Konoha's Ultimate Hero (Revision)
by mak89
Summary: A slightly re written version of my old story
1. Chapter 1

In a nondescript area, which was formerly a land filled with trees and vegetation but was reduced to an uneven bare scar on the earth, two men with their own ambitions for the world gazed in silence at the sight before them.

"It's about time we finished this, once and for all, don't you agree Maltruant?" a tall, young man said, with hair shining as bright as the sun itself. The young man was around nineteen in age. He had roguish, unruly brown hair that was messy and twin bangs that reached his jawline, framing his angular face. His shining emerald orbs did nothing to hide his devilishly handsome appearance, and He was wearing a battered and torn green and black jacket which was torn open at the front, exposing a white body suit underneath which did little to hide his toned and well-muscled form. A four pronged hourglass symbol had emerged on his chest.

He was none other than Protector of the Planet, Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. He had a device called the Ultimatrix. A device which allows its user to turn into any alien life form he/she desires and if they have proper control over it, They can remain as other as long as they wishes. Recently Ben got a few Upgrades to his Ultimatrix, Mainly due to emergence of dangerously powerful enemies. One of them was the access to his hyper evolved human transformation. Which allowed him to access most if not all his alien transformation without actually turning into them. It was dubbed as " **Ultimate Ben"** by the future adult version of himself

"What the hell are you doing Ben? Retreat" A female voice practically yelled into the young man's mind, Which probably belonged to his best friend/cousin Gwen Tennyson.

"Both of you know I can't. This is our last chance. Only after dealing with Maltruant, the peace can be established in this universe and the others." Ben spoke in a tone, indicating how much tired and angry he was from this whole debacle. He wanted to end this war at any cost. Too much damage has been already done, He couldn't afford any loose ends. Not this time.

"But what about you? " A male voice spoke through comm, Clearly belonging to Kevin Ethan Levin, "Look we lost the war but we still managed to save many people, We will win this next time"

"There won't be a next time, Kev" Ben chuckled as he cut the communication. He tapped the symbol on his chest. A green spark of electricity ran through his body and It started transform his body into something else. His transformation being too strong to be contained in human form. Bright lights engulfed his body and soon a powerful creature stood in his stead. That was Ben's most powerful transformation, **Alien X.** It was troublesome at first with Serena and Belicious bothering him all the time, However due to a recent petition in Court of Celestialsapiens, Ben held complete control over this transformation, albeit he could only use it under dire situations..

He wished that it would have been a lot better if he had gotten it before Maltruant absorbed Annilarg and went into God mode.

His opponent floated above him. He was a Chronosapien, The most powerful and genius one to ever exist. Not only that he was leader to all Chronosapiens, He was called Maltruant. His body was black, the glass on his chest was red, and his hands had large, red cannons. He also had metallic eyebrows, red eyes, and his mouth was a red grill plate. He truly lived up to his reputation. The landscape around him resembled an apocalyptic graveyard of gargantuan proportions. Dead plumbers and countless destroyed wildlife littered the scene, multiple craters decorating the land for miles around, and the sky was a dull grey, as if the gods were weeping from the death and destruction.

"So a celestialsapien eh! It doesn't matter now. I am being charged by Annilarg itself" Maltruant mocked with a cold smirk, "The End of you and your race is near, Ben 10!"

"I am not Ben 10, I am Ben 10000" Ben snarled in an outrageously. His entire body glowed with cerulean cosmic energy, His eyes taking a shade of pink as he glared at the rough Chronosapien who caused so much chaos and destruction in his home. Those people he killed were already revived at safe locations but as long as that thing was alive, Everything he loved was in danger. He dashed at his opponent with a power-packed superman punch.

Maltruant paid no mind to the incoming Celestialsapien, slowly pressing onto the Annilarg to energy of his Opponent's attack. However, due to the arrogant nature of the Alien leader, he failed to notice that he had made an error in his judgement. As the roaring Celestialsapien finally crashed into them, Maltruant activated his technology

However when he saw Ben decomposing in the air with a smirk, He realized something went wrong. Suddenly he felt the scenery around him change, A a vast spike filled, rocky, honeycombed network of underground cathedral cave crypts replacing the destroyed buildings and wrecked vehicles. He sunk to his knees, Feeling exhausted despite his super energized state. Within a moment he realized what happened, He was no longer standing on the soil of earth. He had arrived at Anur Vladias. The Undead Planet. Then the pain slammed into them. Maltruant thought he had known what pain really felt like, having endured a beating at the hands of Professor Paradox himself, yet what he was feeling right now surpassed even that experience. He could literally feel his very being fade portion by portion, flowing straight into the mindlessly shrieking Orbit system around him. Despite the burning pain he felt, Maltruant lifted his head to survey the land.

"You... You tricked me! "

The Celestialsapien stood in front of him, He too was feeling exhausted but as a being of great power, He wouldn't succumb to the undead system that early.

"That... I surely did! " Ben replied with grin, Running out of his breath.

"But why... even you will die from this! " Maltruant yelled in anger as he fell down on the floor.

"Funny! " Ben chuckled, " That was the last thing on my mind while fighting you today." He fell on his knees. The Celestialsapien transformation still had a time limit and Even if they didn't...None of his powers were going to work on the Undead planet. Soon the symbol on chest starting blinking and turned from Red to Green. Ben held his breath, Realizing what was gonna happen to him. A bright light engulfed his alien body and he was replaced with good old human form once again. The energy of Undead planet striked him at the fullest, Ben grunted in pain as he felt every particle of body being pulled apart in nothingness. Ben started shriveling as he cried in agony but even he couldn't hear his screams in the space. Tears of frustration and sorrow started running down his face. He could feel his legs grow steadily hotter until it felt like white-hot flames were trying to burst out of them. When he thought everything was over, The four pronged symbol on his chest turned into bright green... And just like that darkness took him

...xxxxxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...

There would always be a price to pay, regardless of the outcome—good or bad.

Power saved lives and could elevate people to new heights, but it also corrupted them. Money granted prosperity, but it often lead to unfinished business.

Every decision made by anyone who has ever lived came with its own share of consequences and rather hefty burdens. There was just no such thing as a perfect choice, a perfect outcome. In this or any other world. It did not matter how prepared you were, or how strong or smart—the costs would always outweigh the glory. Just as there would always be something that needed to be given up in order for one to gain, such was the nature of living.

Ben opened his eyes and was expecting to see something akin to angels, Heaven and eternal peace. The sore feeling of his muscles – long hours of non-stop fighting did that to people – were gone as was any fatigue he accumulated. In fact, he finally noticed that he had started breathing again.

By the time Ben was aware of it. He was no longer in Anur Vladias. He was at least a hundred meters in mid-air from his calculations and the landing was not something he looked forward to. Without wasting any further moment he tapped onto the symbol on his chest and yelled

 **"Jetray"**

A bright glow engulfed his body and he turned into something other than human. His body became filled with incredible agility and stamina. He became an Aerophibian , A being who literally lived in the sky. Wind whistled violently in his ears, In a move derived from both natural gliding skills and intimate knowledge of his transformation , Ben hustled forward like a rocket. Giving himself a trajectory instead of going straight down. He spun in the air several times before crash skidding into the soft grassy earth. Albeit, It did hurt a little bit. That wasn't much more than bruises on soccer field

He took a long breath, Taking everything that happened till now. The bitter memories of Time War, Plumbers losing against Chronosapiens, Paradox being killed by Maltruant which still seemed impossible to believe... His own last gamble...Things seemed a bit messed up to him for now. The air... Was breathable?

It seemed pretty much like Oxygen, That was surely Oxygen like back home. He looked around, There were trees around. Huge trees and the grass was like lush green. Looking around at his sanctuary, he couldn't ignore the fact that he was alone. The only other signs of life he could make out in this area were the sounds of frogs and crickets, and he couldn't even see them. Nothing else. He walked a few steps towards what it seemed like a small streaming pond. Ben pondered onto his situation while splashing water on his face

"Well, If this is Afterlife... Wait a min! My voice" Ben panicked in realization, His voice seemed much like a child instead of someone in his twenties. He looked at his reflection as the water settled down and his eyes widened upon seeing what he found. He had shrunk at least 3 feet and his muscles where a little less defined than they were before. It took him a few more seconds examining his reflection to realize he had been regressed in age somehow.

That was just Fan.. Fucking.. Tastic!

"Alright Smartass! What should I do next? " Ben let out a groan which was directed towards his Ultimatrix. Hoping his device's AI had some answers for him. Nothing happened for a while but suddenly...

A wave of emerald lightning shot towards a certain direction

"Whoa! That was fast! " Ben blinked. Taking a moment to himself, He took a flight. After properly examining the area , Sophisticated Sonar abilities of **Jetray** indicated Human life existed in the direction which was pointed by the Lightning bolt. Ben could tell he wasn't at his home even though the Planet where he was seemed a lot more like Earth. He still needed to figure out how to get back home so he might as well start from talking with resident species of this planet. May be find food and shelter

And hoping for the best, The tired and somewhat relieved Superhero started walking

...xxxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxxX...

Whoa… now that is a big-ass trench," Ben said to himself as he stood at the crest of the hill he'd finally arrived at and looked out over the rolling landscape of valleys and forests towards the great furrow he could see carved into the country. The line dug into the earth was about two kilometers wide and stretched from one vanishing point in the distance to the next; one of the largest natural formations he'd ever seen. He shook his head in amazement as he took it all in from end to end, disappointed that he didn't have a camera with him.

Though some mists toward the north concealed much of the trench, the de aged superhero still got a good enough look at the canyon, concluding that this view was by far one of the most amazing sights he'd ever seen.

"I can't wait to tell Grampa about this when I get home." Scratching his head as he marveled at the landscape, Deciding he'd had enough of taking in the sights at this distance the brunette began marching down the hill to continue on his trek. Spotting a farm house next to some dried up crops closer to the expanse of flats, Ben instinctively headed there to see if anyone in the area could give him some proper directions to the village he was heading to. Honestly, even though it was a highway he still managed to get himself lost.

He needed a map… and something to eat.

Seriously, he was starving. However once he stepped inside the village, He instantly lost his appetite. He came into the village hoping to see a lot of people walking around. Indeed there were a few, a lot more than what he was expecting to see. The good thing was that, They were human.

Unfortunately, Villagers themselves, all looking ragged, worn out and broken. Everyone he saw from this group looked awful. Even the Vegetables seemed thin from lack of hydration. It was horrible. Looking around him at the dilapidated buildings and spirit worn people a second time, Ben let out a sigh, This Place needed a serious makeover.

Makeover of the Makeovers!

He also saw a certain group of people who had some sort of intimidating aura around them. The wore crude Uniforms and they walked in packs. They had menacing appearances and carried weapons, Now Ben's Villain radar had started screaming at this moment, However he still needed something more solid to jump in.

While walking down the main road Ben suddenly became aware of a commotion taking place not too far from where he was. Looking across the street the plumber saw a small group of people standing outside a building and looking down. Feeling he had finally gotten the opportunity to find out what is really going on, He started walking towards them. Just as he expected he saw what he wanted to see for a while since he entered in this place. He wanted a fight... And well he got one!

It was more like a one sided beatdown, But who cares?

" **Ultimate Spidermonkey"** Ben whispered as he tapped onto the four pronged symbol on his chest. A bright surge of electricity ran through his body as even though he kept his human appearance he had now transformed into something else. A silhouette of a several feet taller Gorilla with extra two pair of arms appeared behind him as he disappeared in a dark alley

...xxxxxxxx... Xxxxxx...

A young woman with long blue hair, apron, and pink blouse with red trim was pushed in a corner, She seemed to in her early thirties and was utterly terrified. A child who seemed to be genetically related to her was latching on her leg. He was shaking with fear and was about to cry. A group of large men was covering them, Each of them wielding different sort of weapons.

"You can understand us, right?" the one who seemed to be the leader of the brutes asked, grinning as he placed his hand against the wall and keeping his eyes fixed on the significantly good looking woman, "Your father has yet to stop building his bridge. I guess he needs to be reminded about what happens to those who try to oppose the system here! "

"You can talk can't you?" his second asked, kneeling down and grabbing Tsunami by the head, forcing her to look up at him. His grin widened when he felt her tearing up. . "You know, you're quite the cutie , I bet Gatou will take a very _good care_ of you! "

"Gatou? Huh... If you ask me... That's pretty lame for some bad ass Villain!" A voice said. All goons turned towards the source of the voice but didn't find anyone when they turned back. They looked at each other, Wondering where did the voice came from. However, Before they can get back to whatever they were about to do, the world snapped.

CRACK!

The sound of a sharp thud echoing throughout the entire area silenced all bystanders and antagonists. Tsunami being held against the wall was suddenly dropped to her feet when her captor unexpectedly jumped several feet into the air.

With his head cocked upwards and blood flying free from his mouth, the thug miraculously climbed four full heights off the ground before beginning an incredibly painful descent, his companions looking up at his spiralling form in bewilderment. The remaining three then looked down, where they saw to their utter disbelief a young boy with wild brown hair with his hands in his pockets and his foot jutted skywards, standing inside of their circle. This weird kid, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and sent a kick straight up into a man twice his size with apparently no prior movement or windup leading into the blow. It was completely beyond their level of understanding. This was not supposed to happen

"W-What the fuck?!" the head gangster choked out when he saw his second slam into the ground several feet away with a deafening thump. "H-How did… YOU LITTLE SHIT!" He spun around, swinging his sword straight down to slice the kid in two, only for his vision to fade to black when the one he was targeting leapt at him with a left overhand that blasted his face and upper body coiling backwards. Knocked unconscious from the one hit, the boss thug hit the ground with an even louder thud then his teammate's, like a huge piece of rock making landfall.

"You moron! It's just a kid!" the thug standing behind the attacking Ben shouted before launching himself at the boy, aiming to grab his collar. "Stop screwing a-OOF!" He didn't have time to even start his assault when the runt he was trying to take from behind spun like a top, leapt into the air, and slammed a kick straight across his face. The ruffian literally spun through the air before landing painfully on his head

"I have became so much tired with fighting those cheating Chronosapiens that I almost forgot how much fun it was to beat normal guys! Ah, How much I miss those days?" Ben's grin widened as more thugs come rushing out of the nearby buildings and stands, all of them brandishing dangerous weapons from staffs, to swords, to chains, to knives. Dozens of them instantly surrounded the boy dressed in green and black, cutting off all potential escape routes.

The villagers in the street backed off or made a great effort to conceal themselves where they stood, leaving the kid all on his own to fight the horde of mongrels.

Ben gritted his teeth with a menacing smirk as he produced both of his fists together, Creating a large audible thump heard throughout the Land of the Waves. His grin widened when he saw them all approach him at once.

"This is gonna be fun…"

...xxxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxxX...

One after the other, mercenaries and lowlifes of all shapes and sizes came at Ben kicking and screaming as the boy dashed between them. The impressive strength and agility of his super evolved transformation saw dealing swift, decisive blows with the mercenaries while receiving zero damage in return due to his extreme durability. His devastating punches left many of his enemies reeling in unimaginable pain. People attempting to punch or stab him hilariously ended up hurting themselves in return. Within a few moments, The whole area became filled with unconscious goons, Those who were conscious...were agonizing with extreme pain and all of them have multiple bones fractured.

"Awesome, huh?" Ben asked, before spinning around to see Tsunami and a whole mass of villagers in the background gaping at him. He looked at them one after the other and, upon giving them a cheerful grin, gestured over his shoulder at the various stricken individuals lying around him. "I think we should tie these guys up so that they don't run off when they regain consciousness. Yeah?"

Not getting an immediate response Ben quickly went about dragging mercenaries safely across to one side of the street and, Used Spider Webs he got by puking out. After making sure they were properly tied up Ben turned to the pair of woman and the child.

"Why did you do that for? Now Gatou is going to send more goons after us! " The boy yelled in outrage, Almost jumping in front of him

"You are Welcome, Brat! " Ben huffed in annoyance, "There isn't much out there I can't handle!"

An elderly man around his eighties, dressed in traditional village robes, wooden sandals, a kazaori eboshi, and holding a long walking staff, suddenly come shuffling towards Ben from the back.

"Chid, You seem brave and strong and I thank you for risking your life for one of our own, But you should leave this village before Gatou kills you! "

"Feh! Chill out gramps, I have faced so much in my life... This Gatou is nothing compared to them! I am going to beat him... I promise you that! " Ben spoke with burning determination in his eyes.

"I am Tsunami. You... You fought against all of them and beat them... Single-handedly" Tsunami awed in a voice filled with gratitude, "Thank you for saving me and my son! "

"This boy defeated the most notorious gang in the village! All of them!" another man shouted and he started clapping. Ben felt the little boy glaring at him from the corners of his eyes but didn't pay much heed to it. The kid can hate him as much as he want, He didn't care.

"Let's hear it for the stranger!" With that, another cheer came up from the group of onlookers, who raised their hands in the air and praised the youngster. Villagers standing nearby slowly caught onto the rhythm and, one after the other, joined in the revelry. Applause and cheers came down upon the Wielder of Ultimatrix, When silence eventually came to reign amongst the people, Tsunami turned to Ben and asked,

"Who are you and Where are you from? "

"My name is Ben Tennyson and Where I am from... Well... " Ben trailed off with a sigh as he clasped the dust off from his hands. "It's a long story! "

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

Ben felt like drinking a few cans of Beer, However he soon realized that would look awkward as a thirteen year old, It was rather questionable if his body could handle it or not. Albeit he felt he was on a whole new level then he was used to around his age, Regaining reasonable amount of strength from his adult body. That put him at a bit ease. He had been through a lot of Plumber boot camps of hell ever since he was ten years old. It was a must for Human plumbers to undergo specially designed Physical exercises everyday so they could at least keep up with their alien colleagues. Not only that Plumber children had to take advanced self defense training from a very young, That was the protocol.

He looked at the gauntlet strapped on his wrist, Which appeared after cancelling his Ultimate Ben transformation. While the transformation was useful most of the times, That took a lot out of him. So ever once in awhile Ben would cool off in the good old body which he was born with. Tsunami invited Ben to her house, The Ultimatrix wielder tried to decline but his stomach disagreed with him. So with a bit of embarrassment on his part, He started following the mother son duo. They were walking in comfortable silence, For once Ben wondered if he had time travelled in the past. This seemed a lot like Feudal era of Japan. Then he learned about Ninjas...

Let's just say, He wasn't too Happy to learn about them.

The Ninjas here or Shinobi as people tend to call them had managed to learn ways of manipulating their life forces, Granting them several magical sort of abilities. They had incredible speed and devastating techniques in their arsenal. Ben made a mental note about not underestimating a Ninja of this world if he ever was to face one. Besides, It was a Mana user/ sorceress Charmcaster who managed to kill him once, Not even Vilgax could accomplish that. From what he heard from Tsunami, It seemed a lot like those Ninja Gaiden games. Yep, Ryu Hayabusa rocked!

But feats of Ninjas seemed disturbingly larger than those Video game characters. He needed to stay alert if he wanted to not get caught by them. Besides it was pretty much undeniable fact that wherever he went, People always wanted the Ultimatrix for some reason. Tsunami lead them into what appeared to be the Countryside of the Town. Thankfully the depression didn't hit here as much as it hit rest of the town. The slum seemed clean and well fed. After walking for a while they reached a decent looking two story house which was built near a lighthouse. It seemed to built on water considering Ben had to walk over a wooden pathway.

"Woah! That's a very nice place, Ma'am " Ben spoke with a pleasant smile.

"That isn't much but its home! " Tsunami spoke with a smile as she lead them inside. Ben sighed in relief as he smelled food from inside. That wasn't bad, That wasn't bad at all!

...xxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxx...

Warm relief flooded through Ben the moment he finished the big bowl of stew that had been laid out in front of him by the nice lady who had invited him into her home. With a big, satisfied smile on his face, the blonde patted his sated stomach and breathed out a warm cloud of soup air. While little kid kept giving him nasty glares, Ben reminded himself that these people were tortured souls and despite all the de aging crap he was a mature and responsible plumber so he decided to ignore Inari for now. May be after Gatou situation was handled, Everything will start improving here.

"So Ben-san Where are you from?" Tsunami asked from inside the kitchen, " It seems that You are from foreign lands! "

"Well, You can say I am from north! " Ben scratched his head, It was either time travel or the Parallel dimension sort of thing, However Ben didn't want to sound like a nut case so he decided to go with a common ambiguous reply, "It's a land far far away from here! "

"Huh? That's pretty odd! " Tsunami blinked in amusement as she walked back into the dining room, " Our island doesn't get much visitors and it's otherwise isolated unless you come through Gatou's shipping corporation or sneak in using a small ferry when the fog is thick in the morning."

"Like I told you before, I have no idea how I managed to arrive here." Ben responded with a sigh

"Alright Man Squirt, Spill it out!" Inari huffed in annoyance, Sounding almost suspicious "How did you beat those thugs? "

Ben rolled his eyes, He didn't know if the people here can understand the proper scientific definition of Ultimatrix and Plumbers, So he decided to give a very simple definition. Stretching out his arms with a yawn he continued further

"Let's just say, I have access to a number special abilities. Depending on the situation and my choice, I can have super strength, super speed, breath fire, grow crystals on my body, manipulate plant life...and a lot of different things. I can also turn into monsters ranging from giant to a bug.

"That's the most absurd thing I have ever heard! " Inari mocked, Pressing even further "Prove it! "

Ben let out a chuckle in response and tapped onto the dial of the ultimatrix, located on the middle of his chest, Tsunami was about to reprimand Inari but stopped as various glowing silhouettes of creatures appeared on the top of the ultimatrix symbol. Ben pressed onto a familiar one and brilliant display of emerald lights covered his body, When that died even though he kept his human appearance, Ben was no longer one. In his stead stood his methanosian alter ego **Swampfire**

By using one of his hands, Ben lifted up the entire table while two vines erupted from his other palm. One carried a number of ripe fruits on everyone of its branch while another had several plethora of vegetables

"This is amazing! " Tsunami's eyes widened in amusement, Hesitantly she plucked an apple from the vine and tested it. It was as good as Original, Even better if she was being honest.

"Ha! So you can grow weed on your fingers, Big deal! " Inari mocked in disappointment and ran back to his room.

"Ben-san... I am really sorry about Inari! " Tsunami bowed apologetically, "Thanks to Gatou everyone here has lost the will to do anything "

"Its Alright! I can understand what is going on" Ben replied with a casual smile as he cancelled his transformation, "It's something which happens when a tyrant is left unchecked like this!

"So Ben-san! What happened to you before you arrived in wave? " Tsunami asked with curiosity and probably with a desire to change the topic.

"Well, A really nasty group was after my life and they attacked my town for that. We had no choice but to fight back, starting a long never ending battle against the time. Those people managed to kill a bunch of my good friends and family members, Including my Grandparents. " Ben sighed sadly, Recalling the one time Verdonna arrived to aid them during a very nasty encounter with Malturant, allowing Ben, Gwen and Kevin to escape from the nasty time lord's clutches by sacrificing her own life. And Max died while triggering a special bomb intended for destroying chronosapiens, managing to take out a number of Maltruant's lackeys "I managed to trick their leader by laying a trap and I finally managed to slay him, Unfortunately everything went blank afterwards!"

"Maybe it was possible you were hit by a Jutsu, Shinobis could be after you because of your abilities! " Tsunami spoke out with concern. Albeit, There were limits what Jutsus can do...But for someone with little knowledge of ninja trade It wouldn't be too much to assume that Ninjas can virtually do anything. Besides she was unfortunate witness of seeing Mist Ninjas at work so she didn't realize that the people Ben was talking about were an actual alien race.

Several knocks on the door interrupted them, Ben blinked at seeing an older man walked inside looking depressed and angry at the same time. He was wearing workman's clothes and a sake bottle was tied to his waist. He had white hair and a beard with glasses on. From the family pictures hanging on the wall, Ben assumed that this must be Tsunami's father, Tazuna whose name was written on the nameplate at the front door. It was pretty obvious by now that he was at Odds with the local tyrant due to the bridge he was building.

"I am home! " The Old man let out a sigh, He seemed unnaturally frustrated with something or someone

"Welcome home Father! " Tsunami smiled, Greeting her father with a Hug. Tazuna gave a nod to his daughter, He blinked in surprise as he saw Ben seating on the dining table.

"Eh! Who is the kid, Tsunami? "

"Oh, This is Ben! " Tsunami introduced the young plumber in the question. "He saved me and Inari from a bunch of thugs! "

Tazuna's eyes widened in amusement. A small smile formed on his lips as he waved at the Ultimatrix bearer

"I guess I owe you then, Thanks! "

"Feh! That was nothing" Ben shrugged with a smile, "So what is the deal with this Gatou guy? "

At the shocked look of said Bridge builder, Tsunami decided to explain " Ben isn't from around here! "

Tazuna gave a nod and started with a rather grim expression on his face

"Well, Even I don't know where to begin... "

...xxxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxX...

There was a thing which remained constant in multiverse, Bullies and Gatou was on a whole new level than Ben ever heard of.

Gato wasn't just a billionaire and magnate, he was also a criminal. The fact that apparently he was also such a big face in the world of business meant that nobody, not even the shinobi villages, could do anything about him. He was too big a symbol, too high up in the world, too much of a commodity. That was quite an intimidating thought.

In this place, Gato Company and its products and services were known worldwide. The problem was that Gato was as much insanely crooked as his wealth. He used samurais, Ninjas and crooks to smuggle drugs and Contraband. And this wasn't the end of it, There were more Counties under Gato's rule. Nami no Kuni wasn't the first place. Gato was not only a powerhouse in the industrial and economical world; he also had a thousands of workmen under his wing. On top of that, he didn't just have people who run his branches. That's just a front. Mercenaries, pirates, drug lords, criminal organizations and shinobi… he had gotten a whole underworld dancing to his fiddle.

To be exact, Land of waves was an Island. The only way it was connected to other places was through shipping. He used violence and wealth to take over all the shipping and marine transportation. In Nami, controlling the waterways means controlling everything. A few people tried to oppose him and defied him with great courage. Unfortunately Gato slaughtered them all right in front of the entire town. Or more like made example of them. Well, He had put his name recordably high in Ben's bad books, Which really wasn't good for his health.

So far the only thing which was stopping Ben from going all **Rath** on Gato was his lack of knowledge. It was pretty much clear that Ben was the Wave's last hope, He couldn't afford to take unnecessary risks and jeopardize everything just because he was angry at Gato. A thing made him wonder though, Why didn't Gato just blew up on the bridge?

Tazuna explained to him that the Bridge was sanctioned by the Water Daimyo himself, Who was like the president of whole continent, So Gato couldn't destroy the bridge without risking an investigation. As much Outrageous that seemed to believe, Gatou did fear the system a bit. The bridge would not only connect Wave with mainland, It would break Gato's monopoly and hold over the land of waves. It would also give people strength to break Gato's hold over them. Deciding to help Ben became a member of Tazuna household, He also continued to make attempts to contact his home. He helped out Tsunami with his Plant based transformations, Someone who could instantly grow almost anything with just a flicker of his fingers was nothing short of miracle for a starving household. Ben kept looking for Gatou's thugs throughout the locality, Mainly for drawing Gato's attention and partly for beating the pulp out of them. However, Their numbers seemed to have dwindled over time.

Even Ben didn't know how he ended up working at the bridge. He guessed that must have been after he eavesdropped into a certain conversation , Of course Unintentionally!

 **Flashback**

 _The door of Tazuna's household busted open, and a middle-aged woman stepped forward, a smile so false it could be spotted miles away. At least, for Ben it could._

 _"I'm very sorry, Tazuna-san, but Reno-kun will be unable to join you today. Please forgive him for any oaths broken and do not think too harshly – he is still young."_

 _She gave a half-hearted bow then the door was quickly closed before a reply could be made and Ben noticed, with a frown, a red-haired teenager peeking at them from behind parted curtains before they too snapped shut._

 _"Well," said Tazuna with false cheer, "it looks like we're going to be a man down today."_

 _Three more stops of similar nature were made, yet the group had not gained another member. One of the women answering the door had given Tazuna the dirtiest look Ben ever witnessed – and he had seen some nasty ones aimed his particular way – before slamming it shut without a word. Another had tearfully told them like it was, offering them each a breakfast roll and politely asking them to leave before their presences drew unwanted criticism and attention._

 _They were terrified._

 _They never said Gatou's name, but it might as well have been painted in blood along the sides of their houses for all to see. Ben decided to not waste his time anymore and tapped onto the four pronged symbol on his chest, Currently being in Ultimate Ben form. He whispered_ _ **Ultimate Echo Echo**_ _before bright spark of lightning surged inside his veins, Transforming his body into something else._

 _Tazuna blinked in surprise as several discs flew out from Ben's body, Each glowing with brilliant display of emerald lights, When it died all of them had taken physical form. Each turning into look alike of Ben, Non Distinguishable from one another._

 _While Tazuna felt a bit surprised, He wasn't that shocked considering he watched Ben performing several amazing feats._

 _"You have got volunteers Gramps! " Ben chuckled while fistbumping into his duplicates. Each seeming as upbeat as the original_

 _"Do you even know anything about building a bridge? " Tazuna joked_

 _"I have got super strength and superspeed... " A Ben said, Puffing out his chest in pride_

 _"I can do all the heavy lifting ..." Another chimed in_

 _"I will follow instructions and stay out of the way. May be passing lunches in the meantime " The third one reasoned_

 _Tazuna squinted at him from behind weather-worn glasses. "What's your price, kid?" He shook his head and kept walking, no longer looking at Ben. "You don't need to do this , You are already helping us with the food... You have no need to pick a bone with Gato"_

 _"I do, I surely do. You don't get it Gramps. I am not doing it because I want to be some big hero! " The Original Ben spat out venomously_

 _"Then why? "_

 _"I hate Bullies! " Ben concluded with fire in his eyes_

 **Flashback End**

It had been several weeks since Ben arrived here and started working for Tazuna. The ultimatrix bearer must have known helping in the construction of a bridge – if his work could even be called that – was not going to be exciting stuff. His mind simply did not want to…believe it. On the other hand, Ben saw this as a way to physically push himself even further. He had been doing that from quite a long time. Mainly because he was frustrated with people like Kundo and Fistrick getting the better out of him. Tazuna was quite troubling Taskmaster. Often he would bark orders and get people moving at a quicker pace. What made it a lot more worse was the fact that every once in a while someone who was too scared to cross Gatou would quit and run off. It really disheartened the workers and increased the work load , Even too much for his alien appetite. However, It wasn't something his forms like **Xlr8** couldn't handle. Sometimes he would fill the numbers with the aliens who had duplication abilities. **Ultimate Ditto** was one of them. It was quite a relief that hyper evolved Splixson wasn't a pansy like the original one. It had a degree of enhanced strength to boot, No annoying physical connection to bother him which meant Clones could die without killing himself in the process, Increase in stamina and agility was there too. So far it was a complete package.

Too bad sometimes work was too much even for them. Well, That did increased the bridge builder's morale.

The overload of work forced the ultimatrix bearer to take the cooling off time, That spoke volumes considering his Transformations came with massive pool of energy. Today was an average day and just like always Ben was reeling from a massive workload. Just a few hours ago he helped with carrying bags of cement. His feet were dangling over the side of the bridge, bored out of his mind watching the occasional cargo ship pass by.

"Drinks and lunch everyone! " Tsunami announced cheerfully

Ben let out a chuckle, She was surely a highlight amongst the workers. She and Inari would come everyday with clean water for workers to drink and homemade lunches, Which were most probably from "Tennyson Farm" . Ben stretched his arms with a yawn as Tsunami handed over a lunch box and bottle filled with water to him.

"Hello, Ben! How's work? " Tsunami asked with a smile

"Feh! Old geezer is one of the worst employers I have ever worked with! " Ben joked with a playful smile

"What did you just say Brat?" Tazuna frowned, Somehow managing to hear Ben despite his extremely drunken state. Ben just shrugged in response while Tsunami broke into a fit of giggles. Inari was the world's saddest kid once again, Albeit Tsunami had a pretty good idea what was bothering him this time.

"Don't mind him! " Tsunami responded with a kind smile, " So how much work is still left to do? "

"We are halfway done, I suppose" Ben responded in a casual tone, "So it should be prepared around a month! "

Tsunami smiled again in the response, Ben shook of several less than cordial thoughts out of his mind. She was surely like one of those teachers everybody back at highschool used to have a crush on. Anyways, His hormones definitely didn't regress in age alongside his body. Just when everybody was having a nice chat and lunch, A fog back began rolling in. In the land of waves, Heavy fog was a pretty common phenomenon. That's why the nearby ninja village was called Village Hidden in the Mist. Ben felt a rather ominous feeling setting in once the thick mist covered everything. He put his fingers near the symbol of the Ultimatrix.

" **Wildmutt"** Ben whispered before a bright glow engulfed his entire body, Filling his human body with strange powers.

Men were starting to get scared, Few had already ran for their lives. The mist had already became thick as a soup. Tsunami had clutched Inari rather tightly and covered his eyes. Death wasn't new for them but she still had motherly instincts . Ben blinked as something rolled under their feet. His eyes widened in realization as he figured out that was a severed human head, Still bleeding

"Aahhh! " One of the workers cried in panic, " It's Jako. He disappeared a couple of days ago"

"It must be ninjas! " A bunch of workers cried in unison.

Ben's vision which was entirely made up of a dull 3D mapping of where his senses originated, similar to a thermograph. Combined with his enhanced hearing, his senses took the form of a radar or sonar. Unaffected by the mist in front of him Ben saw a chain lined with small blades flying at Tazuna. Quickly Ben jumped over a pillar and smacked it backwards, Deflecting that with his bare hands.

Hiding behind the thickness of mist, The demon brothers felt their chain being deflected and falling on the ground. Both of them let out groan, This meant they were now facing up against a competent enemy.

Ben narrowed down his eyes on his adversaries. One was wearing a rebreather that covered the lower half of his face and a large, clawed, poisonous gauntlet on his right arm which had a chain coming out of it that had the other end attached to his partner's own gauntlet. He was also wearing some sort ribbon with a horn over it. Another one was quite identical to his partner, Albeit his ribbon had two horns over it. Ben tapped onto his symbol for second time, His human body quickly replaced itself with that of a terrifying creature. It appeared to be a large orange hound with no eyes, ears, nose, or tail. Its claws and teeth were rather well defined, Giving him a menacing appearance.

Without wasting a moment Ben dashed towards Akuma brothers, the demon brothers smirked before Gouzu, the older brother shot right, and Meizu, the younger brother went left. Ben was forced to stop as he tried to keep both of them in his sights.

It didn't work as Meizu came in behind Ben, making the animalistic Plumber roll left. When he came up, Gouzu was in front of him, slashing at Ben with his clawed hand. In Quite Ape like manner Ben jumped up and managed to slash the claw away with his left foot, at the same time he spun around and smashed his other foot in Gouzu's face.

Gouzu stumbled back and glared at Ben, "A lucky shot." He jumped towards his brother who had slowly started getting up

"You alright brother?" The younger one asked.

Meizu nodded, "Yeah, he just nicked my side."

"Still we can't let him get away with that!" Gouzu yelled.

Ben smirked, Wishing that he could speak and throw some comments of his but instead settled with a few boastful barks. Ben rolled out of the way of another attack, moving into a series of flips, knowing from the years of experience battling aliens that Meizu would be there to attack him from behind. As soon as he landed on his feet he was forced to dodge to the left, but ended up running right into Gouzu who hit him in the face.

Ben shook his head and jumped back as Meizu came towards his position. He would have thrown several quills, but Gouzu appeared on his left and came at him with his clawed hand. Ben was forced to backpedal right into Meizu and only barely managed to block the claw swipe he sent. The Ultimatrix bearer took a moment to catch his breath, So the Ninjas were definitely not jokes. They were as dangerous as he expected them to be. This surely meant not all of his transformations were workable in this scenario.

Well, That was good to know

He tapped onto the symbol once again, A bright glow engulfed his body once again. When it died another creature stood in Ben's stead. It was a muscular humanoid moth whose four wings and antenna can fold up into a hooded robe. It had a fiery red body with cyan patches on his arms, shoulders, legs, the back of his wings, and the back of his neck that resembled ice chunks.

 **"Ultimate Big Chill! "** The creature whispered in a spooky voice. The demon brothers had enough by now, They needed to kill the old man and to do that they had to get through this weirdo who literally turned into such _things._ Both of them gave a nod to each other and started going through several hand signs.

"Water Release: Gunshot!" The two shouted out, Emitting two large cannonball-sized bullets of water, which combined and doubled in size. Ben scoffed in annoyance and inhaled deeply. He released his breath quickly, Emitting out a large fireball which barrelled towards the Akuma brothers. Both Mist ninjas literally jaw dropped when two attacks collided, The waterball literally got encased in a huge chunk of ice and shot towards them. With the sheer mass and tenacity it possesed, That was quite impossible to dodge. When it made contact and it did make contact , The force of it lifted the Akuma brothers a few inches in the air before they were sent spiralling backwards like a glorified ragdoll.

Gouzu was the first one to get back on his feet, He snarled angrily once he realized that his forehead had started bleeding.

"Games are not so fun once you start losing, Isn't it? " Ben remarked in his deep eerie tone. Gouzu hustled forward like a torpedo. Coming with a thrust of his clawed hand , Intending to finish this for once and all. Flames engulfed both of Ben's hands as Gouzu drifted closer. Towards mist nin's surprise he phased through Ben's body as if he wasn't even there. Like a gust wind he passed through the creature. He realized something was wrong the moment he landed on ground. He cried in pain as ice started forming all around his body, Within a few moments he was entirely encased in snow from tip to toe. Following behind a crackling sound the small iceberg fell on the floor.

"Brother…" Meizu muttered before turning a glare on Ben . "I'LL KILL YOU!"

The ninja jumped onto Ben with an outraged cry, Following his earlier actions Ben let the ninja phase through him once again. Gouzu cried in pain as flames encompassed lower half of his body, Turning his feet and left shoulder into nothing but a block of Ice.

"Your brother is not dead yet but that can change any moment! " Ben remarked with a spooky voice, "But for now I am letting you go! "

"W.. Why? " Gouzu stuttered due to the frostbite

"Tell Gatou to be prepared, Because an army of monsters is coming for him! " Ben smirked and tapped onto the dial of the Ultimatrix. This time taking the form of a 12 feet tall menacing four armed humanoid creature with red skin. He lifted both ice blocks containing Akuma brothers in each of his hands, Spun them around for a while and threw them over the water surface. Making them cry in pain during the process. Quickly Ben tapped back on the four pronged symbol, A bright flash engulfed his body and once again he was back to human.

"Everybody cheer for Ben, Not only he is helping us with building the bridge but he is also standing between us and Gato's thing. Cheers to Ben 10! Our protector " Tazuna cheered

With in no time Ben was surrounded by all workers, All of them coming forward to express their gratitude towards Ben for stopping the Kiri ninjas before they could kill Tazuna or anyone of them. Of course Ben wasn't going to let some wanna be ninjas kill someone just because they felt like it. Tsunami got a bit sentimental and actually hugged him. Surprisingly the last one to come forward was Inari, Now that was quite something considering the kid had done nothing but bad mouthing him ever since he arrived here.

"Is it true? You can protect Grampa with your weird powers? " Inari asked with glassy eyes. Ben on the other hand let out a chuckle as he ruffed the little kid's hair.

"That was the plan Kiddo! Although I dunno if I can keep it up with the old geezer always screaming like a Banshee" He added with a playful smile

"I will get you for that one Brat! " Tazuna chuckled and for the first time since Kaiza died, A small but rather significant smile formed on Inari's lips.

...xxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxx...

In a rather secluded part of the town, There lied a multistory building which was reasonably well built. The complex was covered by the thugs you pulled off of the streets to harass people for money, Judging by the large weapons strutting behind their back...Well they weren't the friendly types. The building was of castle like design with a gorgeous paint job, arches, balconies, walkways, tiled roofs with slopes, statues and a massive wall surrounding the entire property. It could have easily been mistaken for a temple or a royal fortress from a distance.

The top floor of the building was reserved for da boss, The Big Guy... Gato. It had a balcony facing the sea, Not only that office was massive, with bookshelves, filing cabinets, portraits and all sorts of other high-class stuff littering the space.

For all of his terror and huge criminal empire, Gato didn't look that impressive. He was actually pretty short and in his forties. He still had his hair, which was kind of bushy. He wore dark sunglasses and had a neatly trimmed mustache. Standing in front of him were his bodyguards.

Zori was a light-skinned man with bluish-white hair and black eyes. Lined markings were tattooed under his eyes. He commonly wore a dark purple hat on this head, the top of which extended far beyond the top of his head. Other one was called Waraji, He was of tall stature, wore an eye-patch over his right eye and had brown hair which he parts in three, finishing in an elaborate topknot. He had an intricate tattoo that seemingly stretches across his entire left side and left right, inner thigh, as well as a stitched scar on the left side of his forehead, and the left side of his mouth. He was also covered all over by bandages. Both of them were sadistic individuals and lived for the rush of killing others.

"So they blew up the mission? That Bad...Huh! " Gato snarled in anger , "For Kami's sake they are well trained chunins from the bloody mist, How hard it could be to kill a helpless old drunkard? "

"Both of them are being tended by our medics, A few of their ribs are broken and there seems to be severe case of frostbite involved! " Zori continued with a sigh, " They told me that they were met with rather unusual opposition. A bloodline user of sort with the powerful ability to transform himself into various creatures with different abilities!"

"It's right boss, Rumors say he is a stranger from foreign lands. Not someone that we know off. " Waraji pressed even further, " He is just beyond their skillset, That's all! "

Gato frowned in disappointment and frustration. This wasn't supposed to happen. The old bridge builder was supposed to be dead by now and with him gone Nami would have been one of his permanent bases. He was the only one who threatened his dreams. However, Tazuna must have come up with some serious help if the said person could do this to two well trained mist ninjas. That alone suggested he needed bigger guns to handle this, Which also meant he needed to spend more money on that. Luckily, He had the deepest pockets in the entire world.

"What was the name of the ninja... Who Akuma brothers work for? "

"Zabuza...Momochi Zabuza! " Zori spoke out with malicious grin which kept widening every moment.

"So you want to wage a war against me, old man. I will surely give you one" Gato clenched his fists in anger, smashing them on the table, "No one on this face of earth can beat me, Not even an Army of Monsters! "

 **Dun... Dun... Dun...**

 **Sorry for deleting my old story, I felt like there were a few things I could do a bit differently. And no I can't give Naruto the omnitrix as there are already a lot of stories about that.**


	2. Chapter 2

The news of Shinobis being defeated by Ben spread like a wildfire , While Ben had beaten Gato's thugs before ...beating Ninjas put his reputation on a whole new level. People were very excited to see how a seemingly 13 year old was able to defy Gato's Iron clad rule and beat the crap out of his thugs, Ninjas no less! Whenever he went to work on the bridge or to the market to buy some stuff, People would keep whispering behind his back, wondering how powerful he truly was! Ben was a celebrity himself backhome, Famous throughout the whole Galaxy or Galaxies to be precise so that was just another wednesday for him. One thing made Ben worried though, Despite everything he did People still couldn't openly defy Gato. Although some workers did rejoin them but overall the effect wasn't as inspiring as he hoped.

The most positive change he saw was in Inari, He no longer made funny faces to him or openly mocked him. Which was a good start as far as him was concerned. At least the little kid seemed a lot more welcoming to his presence then he was used to be.

To be honest, even though he was still a bit of brooder, it was good to see him smile for once in awhile.

So far, The construction work was going well. They had gotten a few volunteers and their numbers were slowly increasing. Gato didn't make a move so far which made Ben a bit surprised. Big bads of that category never gave up without a dirty fight. In Fact, They kept getting more dirty and determined each time they were brought down. That was Ben's personal experience. It was possible that Gato was collecting information on him or he already set some sort of play in motion. That was really hard to tell. While it did make him a bit frustrated Ben wasn't the one to lose his patience so early. So far one thing was made clear, Ninjas had the advantage in speed, Strength, Stealth and may be techniques. Ben was limited his transformations, It could have been much worse if Paradox didn't push Azmuth to give master control on his eighteenth birthday. By now, It was also ultimately clear that Magic wasn't his thing. He could probably conjure a mana shield or a glowing ball of light, Weaker than Gwen though but it was the only spells he managed to do so far. Not because he didn't want to, Magic really didn't come to him as easy as it came to Gwen.

It was pretty annoying though. Why does it have to be only females in his family that received Anodite powers? Damn! That seemed totally uncool. It wasn't like he minded having awesome magic tricks.

They were best friends and Ben was thankful to have Gwen on his side. However, A friendly rivalry was always there and it will probably remain so. Albeit, They were grown up and didn't rub those facts into each others face (At least for most of the times).

However, God help him if she discovered all of the charms of Bezel. Even worse she might soon have the Alpha rune in her hand and in addition may be Bezel will get cured from his magic phobia and teach her all of his skills. Ben face palmed at the thought of her turning into some sort of magical god that only the likes of **Way Big or Alien X** would be able to face. Ben wasn't the one to sulk, He always reminded himself that His Grandfather became a legendary plumber despite being a mere human. Gwen worked for years to learn better control and magic. He on the other hand was rather by the book about all the training. Self defence classes, Soccer practice, Plumber camps and spars with the members of his team. His scopes had always been rather limited. Not anymore though, Things had changed after he got master control.

Hands stuffed deep in his forest green shorts, Ben continued to walk along the lonely path that was life; His current destination being a nice secluded place which he found after hours of wandering. Ben looked up in the sky, Grinning towards the clouds and the setting sun. After splashing some water at his face for a while, Attempting to freshen up a bit. After dunking his feet in the river for a while Ben stood up. He pulled up his sleeve, Revealing the Ultimatrix. Not the one to waste time, He reached the desired one with a few flips and finally pressed the dial. A bright glow covered his body as DNA altering process began. When the glow ended a small creature stood in Ben's stead.

It was about the height of an average human child. It had white skin, a black and white head, white face, along with black shoulders. It's hands were large with 4 digits and his feet were merely stubs. It had three fin-like growths on its head. It also has had gem-like orbs on its arms and three button-like gems on its waist. That was none other than Ben's Splixsonian alter ego **Ditto.** He pressed the four pronged symbol on his chest, A bright glow covered his body as he became replaced with his hyper evolved transformation **Ultimate Ditto.** His body grew several inches taller and its skin changed color from white to maroon while several spikes appeared on his shoulder.

Ben took a long breath as his body started pulling and twitching in weird manner, Within a few moments a look a like of him jumped out from his body. Both looked at each other and gave a nod.

Soon, Both of them stepped away from each other and tapped onto the dials on their chest. Bright green glows engulfed their body and when it died both of them transformed into something else. On Ben's stead stood a crystalline humanoid. His body is overall purple, with several dark lines and spots. His hands and face are magenta, and he also sports six magenta shards on his back, two on his chest, and one on the top of his head that resembles a horn. His face consists of a mouth and one large green eye at the center. That was none other than Ben's Crystalsapien alter ego **Chromastone.** While the duplicate who was facing him turned into a creature which seemed to be taken straight out of a Volcano. His body was composed of a bright yellow inner magma body covered by red rocks. His feet were a slight oval-like design with only two toes, While the Ultimatrix symbol was placed on his neck. That was one of the very first forms Ben had even turned into, **Heatblast**

Both aliens grinned at each other while cracking their knuckles, Pyronite was the first one to react. He used his pyrokinetic abilities to propel himself in the air and lunged at the crystalsapien like an eagle. His fists burning with fire. The crystalsapien narrowed his eyes and took a few steps back and spun around, Countering the former's superman punch with an elbow. Being the reflection of the same person Pyronite was half expecting this, He dashed in the air with a fire wielding roundhouse kick. Crystalsapien stumbled backwards as the feet made contact with his chest. Quickly sliding to his right, He grabbed the very burning foot in his knuckles Ben threw his duplicate over his head, Using its own motion against the Pyronite. Skidding across the grass, the duplicate gritted his teeth and lunged again, starting off with a fiery hook. The attack hit straight through the Crystalsapien's midsection, The strength behind it was rather incredible and Ben was sent spiralling backwards.

The duplicate rubbed his hands, The attack affecting him too due to hitting the hard skin of Crystalsapien. . Albeit, It was not more than getting hurt during a soccer match or your regular self defense classes. Besides despite being at just 45% of their original powers, Both alien transformations were remarkably durable. Even they went all Gung ho at each other, It won't be anything further a black eye or Bruises and scratches.

The crystalsapien clasped the dust from his hands and glared at his adversary, "You are one nasty bugger, Aren't you? "

The Pyronite responded with a toothy grin, " Dude! I am you, Don't cha remember? "

Ben huffed in annoyance, A ballsy duplicate. Just what he needed to practice with! He pushed himself forward using energy and sprung with a superman punch. Pyronite covered himself in a blazing hurricane made of flames, Using his ability to levitate in the air Ben took a sharp turn. Filling himself with Ultraviolet energy, He brandished his glowing palms and fired multiple bursts of energy towards the Pyronite. Said few managed hit him on chest forcing the pyronite to skid backwards. Growling in anger he lunged at the Crystalsapien, The pair clashed with one another at the center, sparks flying when the aliens slammed into the battle instrument, with both of them grappling each other before grabbing the other's wrist.

The pair kicked, kneed and parried each other as they forcefully circled on the spot. While engaged, the Crystalsapien growled as he attempted to push his opponent away, who seemingly held a clear physical advantage over him. The Pyronite smirked as he locked his jaw, delivering a devastating blow at larger alien's leg and getting him to stagger backwards even faster, pushing them out of the center. Eventually, after several feet of travel, Crystalsapien managed to bury his heels into the ground and, through melting it underneath his feet, stopped himself. Pyronite blinked in surprise as the crystalsapien's fist glowed with dangerous aura.

"Crap! Don't tell me... "

" **Stone Cutter!** " Crystalsapien yelled as he lunged onto the Pyronite. Performing several backflips into the air, Pyronite smashed his feet on the ground. A massive boulder emerged from underneath in a timely fashion and shielded the Pyronite from the worse. The moment Ben's fist made contact with the human sized boulder and emitted the shockwave that cracked the ground and caused both of them to wince under the pain. Both alien combatants dangerously closed into each other, Holding out their fists as if to attack each other but settling with a fistbump

"That was kinda overkill back there!" Pyronite chuckled , He added with a sigh "You nearly broke my ribs ."

"Well, I could have beaten you to pulp if I wasn't holding back. I am Ben Tennyson afterall" Crystalsapien grinned as he turned back into hyper evolved Splixson form.

"So am I!" His duplicate smiled, Already transformed into his original form. With an emerald glow, He dispersed back into his creator. An emerald glow engulfed his body once again as Ben turned back into his human form. The Ultimatrix bearer let out a groan as the aftereffects of the previous battle kicked into his human body. He was painfully exhausted and one of his eyes were swollen shut. Several bruises were evident on his shoulders and knees. A few cuts were clearly visible on his abdomen, Even his wrists were filled with scratches of all sorts. He took a long breath as he sat down under a tree, Flinching a bit due to back ache. He probably needed to catch a breath for a few moments before getting a run in as **Xlr8** or **Wildvine** to heal his injuries.

"It's good to see you haven't lost your edge! " An elderly voice said. Ben blinked and turned around so quickly that it almost snapped his neck. Not even bothering to reach out to his Gauntlet, Ben yelled

 **"Xlr8"**

A bright emerald glow covered his body and he became replaced by something other than human. The creature resembled a semi-armored Velociraptor. He had black wheels on his feet and wears a helmet, leaving the other features of his head unknown. He had a blue face with green eyes, black lips, and stripes above and on the right side of his eyes. He also had two spikes on his back. That was none other than his kineceleran alter ego **Xlr8**

A man walked behind the bushes, He was tall and muscular. There was no detail to his face since he purposely stood in the darkness of a huge oak tree.

"Who are you? " Ben clenched his fists, Ready to take on the Unknown threat within a millisecond.

"You don't know me but I know you, Ben Tennyson " The man stepped forward. Ben's eyes glowed with menacing pink aura as he brandished his claw

"Take one more step and it will be the last step of your life! " Ben threatened

"My name is Hamura Otsutsuki and this world is in danger! " The man spoke as he stood out in light. Ben's eyes widened as he glanced at the human's unusual features. He was a tall and pale-skinned man with hairless brow ridges and white hair, which grew to waist-length. His bangs were short hung to left side of his face with a chin-length lock which hung from the right side of his face. He also had small, horn-like protrusions on his forehead, The most notable feature was his eyes... Which were characterised by blue pupils and irides which contained a white, floral pattern.

"Please allow me to explain, I mean you no harm! " The man pleaded, He took out something out of his sleeves. It was some sort of pocket watch. However once Ben took a close look, His eyes widened in shock. It was the Chrono navigator. It was a powerful technology that allowed the user to travel through space-time including the past, present and future without getting lost. It could also allow a being to access alternate timelines, alternate realities and dimensions. Its one and only owner was Professor Paradox, Who used to call it GPS for Multiverse.

"Alright, Mr Stranger! I am pretty sure you know what this is." Ben threatened, pointing at the glowing image of his To'kustar alter ego **Waybig** emerging behind his back " So the explaining part needs to start, Now! "

"It's broken and doesn't work anymore. A friend of mine gave that to me, The one you call Paradox! " Hamura explained stoically

"That's impossible! He had been murdered, I saw it with my own eyes" Ben snapped in outrage, Feeling anger bursting up inside of him.

"There are Universes where the rules of space and time are too complicated , Which make them out of anyone's reach. The one you call Maltruant managed to banish Paradox in one of those Universes. Rest assured he is still very much breathing and soon he will be able to break out from there! " Hamura let out a chuckle as he handed over the broken Chrono navigator to Ben, Ben sighed in relief.

At least, Paradox was still out there and as long as the time walker was alive, Ben can find a way back home.

"So Did you come here to send me back home? I really need to take care of a little problem before I even think about returning to my place! " Ben raised an eyebrow.

"I don't possess the power to send you back, I may be able to transcend through the wall of time but accessing the Multiverse are beyond my reach! " Hamura responded in a monotonous voice

"Alright, Mr Otsutsuki! What can I do for you? I don't think you stopped by to say hello, Do you? " Ben asked in a casual tone.

"You have a very long way to go before you can even think about that, Benjamin! The greatest battle of your life awaits you. Prepare yourself, The legendary Ben 10, Darkness is coming to take over this world. If you were to fail, Your home will be next! " Hamura spoke cryptically

"You mean to say I am about to face someone worse than all those people I faced in my entire life." Ben dumbfounded, adding with an raised eyebrow, "Including that douchebag Maltruant?"

"That's something you have to figure out yourself but considering the path you might end up taking in the future, your ideals will most likely compel you to become a great obstacle to that being's schemes ."

"What schemes to be exact? What is this new villain planning?"

"That much you have to figure out yourself. I can't help you with that but I can give you something, a mere tool which may help you with your future endeavors." Hamura spoke out with a mysterious smile as an glowing orb of energy shot forth from his palms and entered inside the four pronged symbol situated on his chest. Before Ben could figure out what was going on, The symbol popped up. Letting out a magnificent glow, bathing in a dazzling display of cerulean lights, forcing Ben to bring up an arm in order to shield his eyes.

" **DNA scan complete. New transformation is available for use."**

A robotic voice echoed inside his ears and once the glow receded, he could clearly make out a silhouette of a muscular pale humanoid before it faded into the background. He looked in front of him, hoping to ask Hamura what exactly he meant to give him, The strange man had already vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of him behind.

The Ultimatrix bearer let out a sigh, even Paradox's friends tended to be as much annoying as him

Ben glanced at the Chrono Navigator on his hand for a moment, A smile formed on his lips as felt the word "Gumballs " engraved on its lower part. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and tucked it inside his utility belt. He let out a groan, It won't surprise him even a little bit if all of this turned out to be a part of Paradox's large elaborate scheme. Well, Ben always had doubts about his "death". Meeting this horned guy just confirmed his suspicions.

And he got a riddle of the lifetime, Which could very well be his last one... Hallelujah!

He let out a sigh, Getting stuck in a dimension filled with mythical ninjas and a premonition about a brand new super baddie who was going to take over the world. Well for such Ben Tennyson, This happened to be just another wednesday!

...xxxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxX...XxxxxxxX...

The overcast sky had cleared leaving them able to walk in the sunlight, but the humid conditions weren't much better.

 _It's so hot, and wet, and moist, and sticky! And I hate it!_

Ben huffed in annoyance, He was not the one to be deterred by the weather of all things. At least not after everything he had faced in his life. Now Being a celebrity he was used to a certain lifestyle. A day starting with light jogging and Gym, Drills with Plumber Units , Modelling and Acting gigs, Promoting Soccer amongst global Alien community etc. It was rather painful to break away from his scheduled lifestyle. Working as a construction worker and sleeping on the ground inside a Futon were not on the top of his " to do" lists. He was used to glamour and style-ish sort of stuff. However, He had a lot more things to do other than feeling homesick.

It was honestly surprising just how bustling and crowded the place was with such obvious poverty, even while a rather robust man chanted over and over, seemingly completely oblivious to his surroundings, "Anything you need you can find it at the market!"

It tugged at his heart and he wished he could do something more, The only consolation he allowed himself was the fact that the vendors did not despise the little ones asking for food and he actually spotted a few caving to the younger children here and there. Ben thought about taking his frustration out on Gato's thugs, Unfortunately he didn't know their main Headquarters. They were ignoring their usual hangout places due to obvious fear of yours truly. Ben reminded himself that he wasn't sitting idle, He was helping the people tasked with building hope. He started walking towards his current base of residence, Tazuna's home. Ben was currently tasked with bringing lunches for workers and he didn't want to be late.

As he reached Tazuna's home, He realized the door was really open. Inari waved at him from the table while Tsunami rushed towards kitchen to prepare meals. As she was filling the containers, She asked all of a sudden with her back turned to him.

"How many? "

"How many people showed up today? " She elaborated further

Ben thought for a moment, To be honest he didn't pay that much attention towards the work going on. The number lodged on the tip of his tongue did not sound like the right one, yet it must be somewhat close.

"Excluding me and the old man, Around seventeen I guess! "

Her shoulders sagged and a soft sigh escaped her as she went about bagging the meals for him. "I was expecting worse but I guess that beatdown of ninjas had some effect! " When she turned and handed them to him there was a sad smile tugging at her lips. "Would you believe me if I said there was once over fifty people working on that bridge? The pay isn't much, so we try and feed some of the workers, too, when we can," she admitted with a swish of navy hair. "Some worked just for that meal what with the prices of food, but now that isn't even worth it to some – the risk is too high, they say."

"You know, I can number anywhere from one to a thousand, yeah? Even if everyone else stop working, I'll keep working till my hands are bloody, feet are blistered and the bridge is done" Ben spoke with a confident grin. The small kid brightened at hearing this. He walked over to the Ultimatrix bearer and poked his ribs.

"Yay! Ben can single-handedly finish the entire bridge if he has to"

Ben ruffed the little kid's hair and spoke out with a hearty laugh, "And if Gato doesn't die from heart attack after seeing your Grampa's bridge, I am going to kick his tiny arse over to the Moon's surface!"

Tsunami's eyes grew wide at that statement. If it was anyone else she would have yelled at them to get that idea out of his head, and never think anything along those lines ever again. After all, the last time she heard those words, she became a widow. Yet, When it came to Ben she couldn't bring herself to think along those lines, Especially after what he had done for them so far. Whenever she looked at the young plumber, Instead of seeing the eyes of a child -inexperience, cockiness, a headstrong gleam- she saw all the traits that belonged to her late husband –confidence, maturity, a hard shine that said "I will see this through". She dropped her head and gave a sigh.

"…Ben-kun?" She questioned softly.

Ben gulped and grew nervous, thinking that she might cry. " _Dammit, you shouldn't have said anything Tennyson !_ \- …Yes?"

She then looked up with a soft smile on her face, small pools of tears in her eyes "Be safe."

Ben was stunned for a moment, before he smiled in turn and gave a two finger salute, "Yes ma'am!" He then turned and started running to town.

Tsunami watched him leave, and then looked up towards the sky, _"Watch over this boy Kaiza. Maybe he will be able to see your wish through."_

...xxxxxxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxxX... XxxxxxxX...

Ben made full use of the unbelievable strength of his transformations , Today he didn't shy away from using **Four Arms** and **Humungousaur**. Surprising everyone by moving thousand pound beams and multi-ton slabs of concrete, made the week or two before. Even though Ben had beaten Ninjas and Gato's thugs before, This was an entire new thing for the crew who just joined Tazuna. Everyone had been amazed at the boy's sheer muscle power and control when he'd lifted a three or four thousand pound slab and set it gently in its place, where the building crew had been forced to attack it like a hive of bees.

"What would I do without you , Boy? " Tazuna chuckled while staring mournfully at the incomplete structure. Thanks to the Ultimatrix bearer's help they were about about 60% done with this thing. And it just occurred to him that his dream could finally be fulfilled.

"You are not doing much with me around here, Either" Ben stretched his arms with a yawn

"What do you mean by that? " Tazuna dumbfounded

"Despite of what seemed like our victory back there, Gato still remains at large. I know that I could probably take on most if not all of Gato's thugs without so much as a scratch. What I do not know, however, is whether or not Gato had hired any psychotic ninja that were hiding until needed." Ben spoke out in a serious tone, "Its a complicated situation and it indicates that Gato has an advantage over me. " He added with fire in his eyes

"From the outside, Gato's business is completely legitimate, and he undoubtedly covers his tracks well. He also has an enormous amount of clout with many feudal lords due to his tried to get help from Kirigakure some years ago, but Gatou's company has enormous stake in the Mist's economy due to the environment and shipping. We were turned away pretty forcefully." Tazuna replied with disappointment in his voice, " I can go to Konoha but still we don't have the money to hire ninja for such an expensive job. We might have enough for armed escorts!"

"I could use some distraction!" Ben spoke in a casual tone, "You can always say you are the Village's most skilled carpenter and everyone knows that the forests are filled with dangerous animals and bandits! "

Tazuna's eyes widened

"…You want me to…lie to people that could easily kill me…with their pinkies."

"Look Old man! You gotta take some risk for Christ's sake. May be I am being paranoid and Gato doesn't have resources to hire some more powerful ninjas. But I can't protect the workers and your family at the same time. He can kidnap Tsunami or Inari and blackmail you into poisoning me or killing me in the sleep! "

"Don't you start blabbering things like that! " Tazuna chided, "Besides How can I lie to Ninjas? That's too risky! "

"Act like a drunk hermit, Make yourself reek with so much Alcohol that they don't bother you asking any questions. I can tell you from my very experience that No one bothers with a drunkard! " Ben explained with a casual smile.

"I wish more people believed in you, You know! Its so damn frustrating to see how far Gato's fear is deep rooted in people's mind" Tazuna spoke in morbid, He added with a sigh " It clearly shows how far people's spirits have broken. To give up now would tarnish Kaiza's memory and your efforts in helping us" He nodded with conviction in his voice, " I may not survive this, hell, as soon as those ninja find out I'm lying to them they might kill me on the spot. But I'd rather die doing something to make things better, to help my family, than hiding like a coward." He gave a short sigh followed by a sharp nod, "In a week I'll be heading to Konoha to get those ninja."

"Great, I'll pack my bags."

"…What?"

"What 'what'? I'm going with you."

Tazuna shook his head "No, you're staying here. The Workers' morale is increasing each and every day. Your absence will affect that and halt the Bridge's construction. Besides with you gone Inari and Tsunami's lives will be at risk. "

Ben was about to protest but soon realized that their plan wouldn't mean anything if Tazuna's family got killed in the crossfire or even worse Every worker working on the Bridge got slaughtered. Tazuna's eyes flashed with a rare show of determination , He spoke out with a soft smile " You know what Ben, and you're a good kid. If this goes south, I'm glad I met you."

The Ultimatrix bearer let out a chuckle, "Now now don't make me cry, Gramps! I have work to do and so do you. You also have to let Tsunami know about our plan, Good luck with it! " He added with a grin as he returned back to work.

Tazuna let out a sigh, His hope might have been restored but he still needed to prepare himself for a lecture of lifetime. Well anything for the freedom of the Wave.

...xxxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxxxxx...

 **This is it. If you have any suggestions for Ben's first encounter with Team 7 and Zabuza then please let me know in the reviews. Ta da**


	3. Chapter 3

**Land of Waves**

Tsunami and Inari themselves had taken Tazuna and Ben's plan with varying degrees of acceptance. Tsunami was surprisingly optimistic about the entire ordeal , Wishing her father a safe and worthwhile trip. Inari on the other hand, that kid had a degree of agnosticism that was unhealthy for anyone. Ben had tried to help the kid out, really. He had gotten a few positive results. Not enough to compare with Reiny though. Ben continued to try and achieve a breakthrough, but he had bigger fish to fry and decided that to completely break Inari out of his shell Gato had to go out of the picture.

Ben had given Tazuna a plumber's badge to alert him incase of things going south, So far he didn't hear any alarming noise. After finishing his work at the Bridge, Ben would wait by the docks. He had been doing that since past few days. Assuming the old man wasn't killed. A part of him chided himself for being so negative, But this was the world of uncertainty so anything could happen. He had cut down his hours of sleeping in fear that Gato would send someone after Tazuna's family . Towards his utmost surprise however, Gato had done no such thing. This brought two scenarios to Ben's mind. Either 1), Gato was just biding his time in order to build up a suitable force to combat him and any ninja that Tazuna would bring back; or 2), the thought of holding Tsunami and Inari hostage had never occurred to him. Ben hoped it was second but his gut told him that the first assumption was most likely in action.

Thankfully, The homing signal of Badge indicated that Tazuna was moving towards Wave in a rather steady pace. Ben decided to reach the docs without wasting any further time. A part of him was happy that Tazuna managed to bring desirable help with him. Now Ben had to bring out the combined might of his Inner Kevin and Inner Darkstar to convince those Ninjas to stay and help with Gato. That was kinda tricky. However, That wasn't anything Ben was unfamiliar with. Ben had handled such sort of matters before. Convincing the Highbreeds, Treaty between Appolaxians and Lewodan, Red and blue... Feh never mind! and solving the issues between two species of Gourmands. On his part, He managed to convince a boatman to help Tazuna in crossing the river, He didn't protest much considering he was being asked by Ben 10: Who defied Gato and beat up his cronies. Even though it seemed like he wanted to get over with it without getting in trouble, Compared to the people of wave his courage was rather admirable.

Ben looked at the clock, It was early morning and if the homing system was correct Tazuna was about to arrive. Mist was thick as soup on the lake, It was a perfect cover for an ambush to kill him or bring in Tazuna and his escorts. He recognized the rower who gave him a friendly wave, Then Tazuna's image became clear. first one was a tall and almost lanky looking man with a green vest over a bark blue shirt, dark blue pants with a pouch attached on his right leg, and bandaged feet in sandals. Half his face was covered with a mask, and he had a headband with an insignia on a metal plate-"Probably his clan, country or whatever else's symbol"- covering his left eye. His hair was…white and spiked up. While the man gave a deadly vibe, His features indicated he could be someone who sympathizes with people. Overall, Acceptable by Ben's standards. His relief didn't last any longer once the other three figures made themselves visible.

" _Holy crap! This must be a Joke... The biggest one ever pulled on me! It can't be... FOR CRYING OUT LOUD THEY ARE JUST FRIGGING KIDS ! WHERE ARE THE BADASS NINJAS? "_

Ben took a long breath, Reminding himself that different dimension meant different rules. They could be battle hardened Child soldiers. May be they were trained in Ninja things from a very early age and handling such jobs were no different than doing homework for them. Well, That didn't make it sound much better.

Just within moments , The boat entered inside the dock. It gave him a more detailed view of the Ninjas. The Cyclops was the only one who seemed reliable. Of course he couldn't forget the kids, He dreaded at even the simplest mention of them. In general, They were two boys and a girl. The dark haired boy had an aloof air about him, Ben could easily guess he was one of those High and Mighty types. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and the back of his dark hair struck out like some sort of tail. The other boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing some sort of obnoxious orange jump suit that literally hurt Ben's eyes. The ultimatrix bearer facepalmed multiple times but wait... His surprise wasn't over yet... His eyes darted towards the last person, Female of the girl. She was a girl with pink hair and green eyes. She also happened to be wearing a red dress

" _GREATS! I HAVE GOT MR LITTLE SUNSHINE AND RED RIDING HOOD PROTECTING MY BACK, THAT'S JUST FAN FUCKING TASTIC!"_

Ben was literally boiling from inside but somehow managed to control himself. He walked towards the group who just landed on the ground. Team 7 and their teacher blinked at seeing the new comer walking towards them but when Tazuna waved at the said person , All of them relaxed. Ben gathered the whole Asia's politeness inside of him and spoke with a deep bow.

"Greetings Shinobi-san! I am Benjamin Tennyson. Thank you for keeping our resident Banshee safe. I am glad that his safety was in the capable hands of Konoha's esteemed shinobis! "

"Nice to see you too, Brat! " Tazuna remarked dryly, Albeit with a smile on his face.

The other four people had varying degrees of emotions on their face. The white haired Ninja raised an eyebrow and observed how the young plumber was insanely ripped, Clearly having the build of a fighter. The dark haired gave him a blank stare, Not caring even a little bit. The pink haired girl blushed a bit as she responded with a bow of her own. The blond broke into a wide grin as he yelled out in a loud voice.

"Of course! The old man was under the protection of Team 7, the greatest ninja team in the whole world! Believe it! "

Ben felt the urge to smash his head in the nearby wall multiple times. He sighed inwardly, " _Please don't tell me I was like that when I first got the Omnitrix! "_

Getting a hold on himself, He spoke with a fake smile that put even Michael Morningstar to shame, "How about all of us head back to Tazuna's place? Fishes make excellent meal in the hands of a good chef and Tsunami-san is the best in the entire land of waves! "

Once again Ben was greeted by the loudmouth blonde, It made his eyebrows twitch. "That would be awesome. Afterall we can't beat the crap out of that Gato guy with empty stomach! "

Ben dumbfounded, "What? "

" Gato you know... The guy who turned Land of Waves into crap! "

Ben threw a questioning glance at Tazuna, The Old man responded with a sigh as he coughed into his hand, "They... Uh... Found out a little bit sooner than I had expected! "

The Ultimatrix Bearer let out a groan, He gave out a thoughtful hum before turning out to shinobis. "Well thanks for helping out then, Soldiers with goodness in their heart... A rare but admiring combination! "

The Adult ninja turned to him, Observing him in a rather spooky way. Finally his single eye curving upward to indicate a smile.

"Hello there, I am Kakashi Hatake, Sensei of Team 7". He gestured to Naruto who gave him a high five "This is Naruto Uzumaki," the girl, who responded with a friendly wave. "Sakura Haruno," and the final boy, who just gave Ben a blank emotionless stare, "and Sasuke Uchiha. My genin squad."

"Nice to meet ya all and that but we should really get going." Ben remarked casually, He added with a friendly smile "I am coming from a very heavy late night shift at the Bridge and I could literally feel lions roaring inside my stomach! "

"That's understandable! " Kakashi gave a short nod, following by the famous eye smile.

And just like that everyone started making their way towards Tazuna's home.

...xxxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...

Ben and the others had been walking for a while now. Along the way, Ben learned a few things about his new companions, well, the kids at least, Kakashi was a consummate professional and didn't reveal/say anything aside from the occasional dry comment towards his charges. However, from what he could gather and what his instincts told him, he appeared to be a reliable individual. As he initially expected, The kids pretty much turned out to be open books, at least for the most part. He didn't know much about Sasuke but he appeared to be quite the loner. His answers were monosyllabic and cold and he didn't seem much interested in talking anyways.

Naruto, The one in orange jumpsuit, liked to talk the most. He loved ramen which was easily understandable as he mentioned it at least ten times in the last few minutes. It was pretty obvious that, Naruto had a crush on Sakura, who in turn happened to have a crush on Sasuke, who obviously didn't seem to care much for anything. From that, it was easy for Ben to see that any challenges Naruto issued forth to (who could carry everyone's supplies, who could run to Tazuna's place the fastest, etc.) were all in the name of his attempts to woo Sakura. Sakura in turn would get annoyed at Naruto's advances, and yell at him to "stop annoying Sasuke-kun!" (In other news, the girl had quite the temper). Ben had to smile at their exchanges, remembering a simpler time when his biggest worry in life was getting attention opposite sex, and not able to complete his Chemistry assignment.

Yeah, that felt quite nostalgic.

He closed his eyes, Ben was careful enough to stay transformed most of the time. Especially after having a taste of Ninjas' power himself. His current choice of transformation was his Aerophibian alter ego **Jetray.** There were many reasons for that, But the major one was pretty obvious. Having to fly in Aeropela's misty weather, aerophibians had evolved a very useful sophisticated sonar, far superior than that of bats or whales. That could be very useful considering you have an enemy who can use the mist against you. It was kind of fuzzy at around three-hundred meters out, but he could still feel stuff beyond that. There was a mother deer and her fawn about a hundred and twenty five meters that way grazing.

However, He blinked once he realized a human shadow with a very large tree hiding behind trees, Constantly changing his positions in high speed. Ben would have gotten a better idea if he was in water or in air, However he could pretty much tell that man had something huge and sharp hanging behind his back. Ben tried to get a better look but ended up taking a fall in a clumsy display. Quickly he was back on his feet and clasped the dust from his cloth. He had gotten a general direction and if that was anything to go by the said bastard was about to strike them sooner or later.

He heard Sakura's voice beside him, " Are you alright Tennyson-san?"

Ben turned and a gave small laugh, "Oh yeah. Just tripped over my own two feet is all. No need to worry". Sakura smiled and nodded in return.

Naruto, a few feet behind them, was seething with jealousy, " _Oh come on_!" he raged in his head, _"It's bad enough that I gotta compete the Sasuke-teme, but now I gotta deal with this guy. Well just you wait Sakura-chan, I'll show you what I can do!"_

A plan instantly formed inside the knucklehead ninja's head, as he ran ahead of the others, peering intently at the shrubbery around them. All of a sudden, he cried out, and threw a kunai to his right…nothing happened. Kakashi, who was content to stay silent as he tried to assess the danger they may face, spoke up, "Umm, Naruto-kun, I don't think anything was hiding in the bushes".

Naruto stayed still for a few seconds, before loudly proclaiming, "Maybe, but what about over here!" He threw another kunai to his left, and jumped over, moving the bushes to reveal, a white rabbit, frozen in place out of fright.

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT!" Sakura yelled , diving her fist into Naruto's head, sending him flying away in the air till he stopped a few feet near Tazuna, eyes swirling. Feeling sorry for the boy, Ben went on to check his injuries, all while keeping an eye on the unknown assailant he could sense.

Tazuna facepalmed, and Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. Kakashi however, were beginning to worry. He realized that it was much too early in the year for a rabbit to have white fur, as a snowshoe hare was supposed to have brown coats at this time of year. This indicated that the rabbit was most likely raised in captivity , and if all those assumptions were true, it was used as distraction. In order to lay down a trap.

The Copy ninja was certain that an attack was imminent. Ben's enhanced senses screamed in alarm as he realized the shadow had started moving towards them in high speeds, ready to take them out in one deadly sword. Ben was about to scream out of his lungs in order to warn everyone but Kakashi beat him to the punch.

"HIT THE DIRT! " Kakashi yelled at his party to get down. Ben was already on the move , immediately tackling Naruto and Tazuna on the ground but followed the course nonetheless. If Kakashi was a bit shocked at seeing Ben's sharp reactions, he decided not to show it as he focused on grabbing a hold of Sasuke and Sakura.

A sword, though calling it a sword might be a bit of an understatement, went twirling over their heads, resembling some sort of oversized shuriken. The blade itself was huge, easily broader than each of the pre teens and definitely taller. It slammed into the hefty wooden husk of an oak tree, the plant life just about able to withstand being sliced in two. A man slightly pale, and incredibly muscular jumped over its hilt. He was rather sinister looking with black spiky hair and dark eyes, wearing a pair of gray-blue pants with gray-camo leg and arm warmers. He had a harness on his chest, most likely for his sword if that could be considered one, bandages wound across the lower half of his face, and a headband tied off center on his forehead, with four diagonal lines on the metal plate.

Kakashi let out a sigh, he had definitely heard about this monstrosity.

"Zabuza Momochi, A-class missing-nin of Kirigakure. Former member of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen and Kirigakure no Oni," Kakashi responded nonchalantly, trying to keep his emotions in check. . The man was a terror, a literal demon incarnate judging by his oddly appropriate nickname. Kakashi merely stuffed his hands into his pockets and kept his composure, the man's physique made him look scrawny in comparison

"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan Eye. I can see now why the Demon Brothers fail and what's this? I also see you've taken a genin team of pathetic little wanna-be ninjas Hah! Konoha that village sure went down the drain. Now hand over the old man, I have a mission to execute him," Zabuza said evilly in his gruff, yet gleeful voice. He then leveled his own glare towards the Ultimatrix bearer, there was something about this boy whuch truly baffled him. A mere civilian like that shouldn't be able to react to an attack of such caliber , at least not in thousand years. Was it just a fluke? Or he actually managed to sense that attack. However, he needed to focus on Kakashi right now. He had all the time to play it out with everyone else afterwards.

The others, save for Sasuke were confused at what a "Sharingan" was, Ben decided to voice their thoughts, "Hey, what the heck is a 'Sharingan'?" To the group's utmost surprise, it was Sasuke, who was quiet for the majority of the trip, quickly answered while throwing a glare at his sensei. Obviously not happy that he kept such big secret from him. "The Sharingan is a special doujutsu that allows the user to see through an opponents genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. That person can then copy the technique and send it back to their opponent in seconds".

" _How? How did that happen? Only the members of Uchiha clan-my clan are supposed to have the Sharingan_. _Is Kakashi sensei...?_ " Sasuke thought to himself, still in shock due to the turn of recent events.

"Come on brat, if you're going to tell them, you might as well tell them the whole bit." Zabuza said from his place above the others. "You only scratched the surface of what it can do. You see brats, the sharrigan can analyze an opponent's technique and then copy it to the smallest detail. In the Land of Mist we had a standing order to kill you on sight Kakashi, it read that you were the man that had copied over a thousand jutsu. Kakashi the Copy ninja."

"So we have a really famous ninja protecting us then?" Ben blinked in surprise, Now really eager to see a warrior from this strange dimension in action

"Sorry to disappoint you kid but that's just going to delay the inevitable " Zabuza spat at the group. " Kakashi, hand over old man and I'll let you and your genin squad go, May be that civilian too as I am feeling quite altruistic today. " He added with a mirthful laughter.

"I'm sorry but you know we can't do that," Kakashi glared at the missing ninja. "It wouldn't look very good for Konoha if we just let you have him without even putting up a fight."

Zabuza shrugged, "Don't say I didn't try diplomacy first." Grabbing onto the hilt of his huge blade, Zabuza kicked off the tree. He landed on the lake , which was disturbingly closer to them and made a hand sign. "Let's see how well you can live up to your name, Kakashi !"

 **Hidden Mist Jutsu**

A thick mist spread across the land, blanketing the already misted area so heavily that no one could see more than a few feet in front of them.

"Defensive Formation you three!" Kakashi ordered his genin squad, causing them to surround Tazuna and Ben in a frontal triangle formation with Sasuke as the point, Naruto on the left and Sakura on the right.

"Zabuza is a master of the **S** **ilent Killing Technique** ,  A strategy he can enact without making even the slightest bit of sound and the attacks are so much swift and sudden that even highly experienced ninjas have fallen prey to it, if you're not careful you'll be dead before you even know it. Protect the bridge builder and the civilian, leave Zabuza to me…" Kakashi turned back towards the lake and began to lift up his head band. "It looks like I'm going to need this."

"Ah! The Sharingan," Zabuza voice came from within the mist, his outlined form barely even visible. "It's an honor to be facing it so soon. But you know better Kakashi, It's not going to help you much here."

Ben was quite surprised to see Kakashi's second eye, Which appeared to be completely bloody red apart from a number of few strange markings which Ben couldn't describe. It was some sort of swirl with three teardrops which surrounded the copy nin's black pupils. Apart from that Ben also saw a nasty looking scar that traveled across his closed eye, indicating that the said ninja had been through a lot of life and death situations.

"Eight points…" Came the disembodied voice of Zabuza, causing the three genin and Tazuna to freeze as the entire atmosphere became filled with malice and fear

Ben closed his eyes and took a long calming breath. This man was somehow capable of exuding pure killing intention, and having it affect their opponent, themselves, and others around them, up to the point of paralysing them with fear. It was something Zs'skayr , Diagon and Vilgax enhanced by Malware's techno organic corpse had made him feel, even showing him various images of him dying a very gruesome death at their hands.

What Zabuza made him feel wasn't on that level but it was enough for making him feel uncomfortable. However the Ultimatrix bearer managed to regain his bearings within no time as he had dealt with such situations many time throughout his lengthy and tiresome tenure as a superhero.

 _"Such intense thirst for blood!_ " Sasuke thought, struggling to catch a hold on himself, _"Is this what a high level battle between two jounins are like? It feels like if I make one moment he will kill me. This suffocating feeling..."_ Sasuke thought desperately, bringing a kunai close to his throat, _"I don't think I can take it anymore."_

However, before he could do that, he felt a tug on his arms and he was suddenly reminded of the fact that Ben was standing right behind him. The brown haired "civilian" grabbed his shoulder tightly , making the Uchiha flinch.

"Get a hold on yourself buddy, Having a mental breakdown right now isn't going to help. Besides I am pretty sure your teacher won't let this freak get near to touch us." Ben spoke out in a confident tone. Unlike everyone else he could see what was going on behind the mist and from what it seemed, Kakashi wasn't having much trouble following Zabuza's movement. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that he had to defend all five of them at the same time while dealing with Zabuza, he could have been a lot faster than now. Even now, the leaf veteran was standing in between his squad and Zabuza, ready to counter any and every move the demon was about to make.

 _"I can't believe it...how a civilian like that can be so calm in this situation...this is unbelievable."_ Sasuke dumbfounded but he managed to regain his bearings and lowered the kunai.

"Is that so? We will see about that." Zabuza said disagreeing with Ben's statement and appeared right in the midst of him , ready to slice them off with his gigantic sword. All of a sudden the mist surrounding them began to grow thicker and thicker, practically engulfing everything in a grim shade of white.

"The liver, lungs, spine, jugular artery , collarbone, lungs , brain, kidney and heart. Which sweet and vulnerable part shall I choose?" A gruff vicious voice surrounded them from every corner, planting seeds of fears and doubt within everyone's hearts, including Ben.

While Ben was forced to push his senses to the maximum in order to keep up with Zabuza's incredibly swift and deadly movements, He could still sense Zabuza. He felt Zabuza increasing his pace as he jumped in between middle of the genin, raising his blade in order to slice off the old bridge builder. Ben clenched his fists, He could feel Kakashi appearing behind him, ready to move them out of harm's way. Ben was quite surprised as within one tenth of a second, Kakashi had successfully managed to move everyone including Tazuna and Ben out of the way. To the eyes of normal human, Kakashi didn't even move but Ben knew better. But what Ben witnessed was tremendous speed and reflexes. He had to admit though, the man had excellent situational awareness. Ben would have to remember that in the future.

Damn! The ninjas of this dimension were no jokes. He needed to be careful if he were to deal with them in the future.

However, before they could figure out what to do, Another Zabuza emerged from the bushes, and bisected Tazuna at the chest. Ben 's eyes widened in horror as the two halves of the old man sprayed blood everywhere and thudded to the ground. Something splattered against his cheek and the young hero touched it with a trembling hand. He got a surprise, though, when he looked at it.

"Water?" he murmured, wondering how water had splashed him instead of blood.

"What did you say?" Zabuza asked, having heard the young plumber's voice. "Did you say…"

"Water?" A third voice interrupted as cold steel touched Zabuza's neck. "Yes, he did."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura shouted together. Somehow, Kakashi had managed to replace Tazuna with a Water Clone using the substitution jutsu, hiding the real bridge builder safe in the brush of the forest-ringed lake. The real Tazuna scrambled out of some bushes a moment later.

A vicious laugh split the cold foggy atmosphere. Zabuza apparently found the fact that he was being held at knifepoint highly amusing. Kakashi held the kunai a little closer to the Mist-nin's neck

"What's so funny?" the Leaf jonin growled out. His Mist counterpart's laughter just redoubled, his sides shaking from it.

"You, Hatake." The other ninja gasped out. "You actually think that I'm real." With that, the man dissolved into nothing more than a splash of water.

 _" A Clone? "_ Kakashi yelled at himself, not believing that he'd fallen for such a simple trick. He hesitated for but a half-second, but it was enough.

"LOOK OUT!" Ben's yell came too late. Zabuza was already behind him, swinging his sword. Kakashi had to do something and he had to act really fast! His gloved hands flew together, making a seal for the traditional jutsu that helped him survive in such situations countless times in the past. That was bound to work.

Zabuza's sword slashed Kakashi in half, and everyone had a look of horror, just before the blood and body parts turned into a spray of water that drenched the four kids at the scene.

 _"Another clone?"_ Sakura asked, dumbfounded. So this was what it was like to be involved in a battle with a real ninja? The pinkette suddenly realized that she had no place in this clash, and that thought scared the crap out of her.

Meanwhile, Kakashi burst out of the surface of the lake with a gasp, having made a successful getaway, but instantly realized that something wasn't right here. The water was dense, as if it was a solid and not liquid.

 _" Not good!"_ Kakashi thought desperately as a shadow fell over him. He twirled around the best he could and saw Zabuza hovering over him akin to a bloodthirsty predator, his hands flying together to use a jutsu. His bandages distorted as a psychotic grin illuminated even more of his demonic visage . This time, the grin was large enough to cause an aperture in the wrappings and allowed Kakashi a glimpse of his hidden facial features, complete with razor sharp teeth filed to points. Clearly he took his moniker as the **"Demon of the Mist Village** " very seriously.

 **"Water Prison Jutsu."** Kakashi's mind went blank as he was enveloped in a sphere of spiralling and ever moving water. rendering the Jonin absolutely incapacitated of doing anything. "I'm a little disappointed, after hearing so much about the great Kakashi, I honestly thought you'd put up a much better fight than… this." Zabuza expressed his distaste, turning away from the ninja as he held him in his water prison with one hand.

Kakashi pushed with all his might, but could not break free, "Don't bother," Zabuza said, "You're trapped in a bubble of water stronger than steel. I'll only release this jutsu after the others are dead, after which you'll be easy pickings". He then made a sign with his free hand, " **Water Clone Jutsu"**

 _"Dammit,_ " Kakashi berated himself, _"He's more skilled than I thought"._

Ben blinked in confusion and horror as a column of water rose up to Zabuza's height and began to take on a form.

 _"Crap, Don't tell me! This is almost as much unfair as that bastard Maltruants Time remnants!"_ The ultimatrix bearer cursed under his breath as the water did indeed took the form of another Zabuza. The situation was bad enough with Kakashi trapped inside that freaky water vacuum thingy. Now he had to deal with a duplicate of the man who put the deadly ninja inside _that_ in the first place. All while defending everyone. This wasn't going to be easy.

The clone made it to dry land, and started to speak, glaring at the rest of Team 7 and the Ultimatrix bearer.

"I am so going to enjoy this! "

Speaking of mist, the dense fog surrounding the area once again intensified and the water clone instantly vanished into its cover.

A foot lashed out of the mist, a foot so big it practically dwarfed the Genin's head. It was headed for a stunned Naruto, too fast for the blonde to even comprehend it. Ben caught it, saving the orange clad ninja a sandal print to the face. With narrowed eyes, the brunette blocked the follow-up strike, batting it away with an elbow before he brought both hands up. The four pronged symbol on his chest made itself visible and a bright emerald glow engulfed the entire mist.

Naruto's eyes widened in amusement as he watched the brilliant display of strength, Coming from a civilian nonetheless. Ben jumped up and grabbed Zabuza look a like's head, Everyone's heart missed a beat as Ben pulled it apart as if he was plucking some fruits. The Clone's body immediately shattered like pieces of domino, Everything emerged back into water mixing with the mother nature, Except the bandages though. Such savage display of strength was scary though, Even Sasuke had to admit that. Sakura felt a bit breathless, Feeling unsure about how to react. Ben had completely dismantled a person just like that, Even though that was just a water clone... It was a lot to take in.

"How the hell did you do that? " The Jinchuriki curled his fists in frustration as he turned towards Ben

 _"Such strength , speed and ability to see through the mist...Could he be..."_ Kakashi thought while in captivity as he immediately recalled his team's last encounter with demon brothers

"So that's why the Bridge's construction was going on despite Gato's hold on the Wave country and why Tazuna is still alive, You were out there protecting them." Sasuke reasoned, Being the first to catch on the fact.

Zabuza chuckled. He recalled those old days, Starting to feel a bit nostalgic. A nine year old child, Forced by his parents to enroll at the Kirigakure Ninja academy while he was just a child knowing next to nothing about the harsh reality of this world. It was quite fascinating how someone like him just wandered in and slaughtered over one hundred potential candidates as future ninja. He believed that was where the moniker had come from, Demon of the Hidden Mist. It made sense in retrospect; he had shown no mercy even at the tender age of nine.

Ben took a long breath and widened his stance. It felt good to crush that water zombie but he still had to deal with the genuine article. Who did seem like a tough customer

 **Flashback**

 _Kakashi stared down the two notorious missing-nins that had just made an attempt on Tazuna's life. It was glaringly obvious that they were hiding in a puddle which was a pretty half baked decision considering it was a bright and sunny day and it hadn't rained recently. After using a Body Substitution Jutsu to avoid their attack, he found it slightly odd, In comparison with their stats and bounty in the bingo book he found them rather slower. In fact he felt that he should have triggered the jutsu a few seconds later than he originally did_

 _Kakashi had actually secretly hid inside the trees to see if he could take the two out in surprise while his team engaged with them. The more he observed them , He realized that his first assumption was right. The Infamous Demon Brothers were being a little lethargic for a Chunin. They also seemed to be relying more on their right side. Possibly because of an wound that they had endured some time ago. Sasuke was able to delay them without any sort of difficulty whatsoever on his side while Naruto stopped dead in his track and Sakura hung back with Tazuna._

 _Deciding to wrap up his act , Kakashi jumped into battle and managed to deal a finishing blow to both of the Demon Brothers at the same time. A nice sneak attack if he were to define himself._

 _Now that he had time to take a very good look at these two, It turned out that they did indeed have some severe wounds that still hadn't healed fully. There were signs of frostbite on their necks and considering how they winced whenever they moved a certain parts of their body , indicating that they had broken a few of their bones during an intense battle._

 _"Well well " Kakashi observed. "Isn't this interesting? It seems someone had the honor to beat the crap out of you two. Care to explain ?"_

 _"Grrr," Meizu growled angrily. The bite of their loss just felt as bitter the second time around._

 _"Someone who protects the Bridge and the old man. He has this weird bloodline limit, allowing him to transform into various creatures with different abilities and he is good, scary good with them . That's why Gato's man call him The Beast " Gouzu hissed angrily._

 _"The Beast? " Kakashi blinked. That was indeed a very odd name. If his memory served him right, He had never heard of anyone like that and last he checked, the bingo books didn't have a weird name like that either. However He did observe that Tazuna recoiled slightly at the mention of The beast. It seemed that He knew who the beast truly was. Also he could easily tell it wasn't because he was scared of him._

 _The most surprising fact was that the beast was a kid and he worked as a construction worker on the Bridge, So sooner or later he was bound to run into him_

 **Flashback End**

"My.. My you do have an intent to kill, I gotta say. I finally recognized you now, You are the Beast my subordinates mentioned. Its quite a shame though, You don't have any formal Ninja Education. In hands of a Shinobi, You could have been a powerful weapon. Anyways... Your gifts may have allowed you to defeat Demon Brothers, That won't do much against me. I have dealt with fair share of bloodline users in my career. " Zabuza announced with a menacing growl

"Let's see who is the bigger monster amongst us! " Ben grinned, As he stepped forward. Ready to face the Swordsman standing in front of him.

"And he is not alone in this, Ninjas of hidden leaves are going to fight alongside him. Believe it! " Naruto took a step forward, his teeth gritted and fists shaking. His hands shifted into a familiar hand sign. Ben blinked in surprise as within a cloud of smoke hundred more Naruto look a likes appeared and rushed towards Zabuza.

Zabuza didn't even bother to react as he swung his sword wildly, Even though multiple duplicates of Naruto dogpiled on to the rogue ninja with a rather impressive co ordination , none of his swings missed the target. Despite being forced to use only one of his hand and restriction in his movement Zabuza swatted all Naruto's as if they were insects. With in a few seconds all of them had exploded back into a cloud of smoke.

"Tch, It would take thousands of you to beat me! " Zabuza scoffed

Naruto gritted his teeth as a glint in his eyes said "Challenge accepted " . He was about to jump ahead but Ben grabbed him by collar and pulled him back.

"Hey! "

"I am really impressed to see your courage and determination but that dumpling guy can kill you with his pinky. I might have a bit advantage but to be honest that's not going to take me much far" Ben spoke with a dead serious tone, "The only way to beat him is to get your teacher out. Only he can even the odds."

He could use his heavy hitters such as **NRG** , **Ultimate** **Humungousaur** and **Waybig** but he didn't know how much he could show to these people or what ninjas would do to him after learning about his abilities **.** Perhaps someday he might be able to find people in this world whom he could trust with his secret. However, until then he needed to remain on his toes most of the times. The best option right now seemed to be getting the "good " ninja out. He didn't know how much effective **Xlr8** or **Fasttrack** could be, They had been beaten in his world before by people of superior reflexes and combat experience, So it was highly doubtful they could be effective against ninjas of all people. Especially when he was fighting in the middle of a thick mist. **Jetray** had a clear speed advantage but only if the battle was in air or underwater. **Ghostfreak** was his last resort and Ben didn't trust himself with anything related to Zs'skayr. Ben jumped forward while tapping onto the four pronged symbol situated on his chest.

The Ultimatrix bearer's body bathed in emerald light as he swapped his transformation. When it died Ben was replaced by something much more animalistic and horrifying. The creature had grey fur, a long flowing mane, and a bushy tail. It also had four sharp claws on each hand. One of them served as the thumb, while the others served as the fingers. It was none other than Ben's Loboan alterego **Blitzwolfer**

Leaning down, Ben moved on all four. After letting out a loud and menacing howl, He turned to Zabuza as his eyes glowed within the mist,

"What happened Mr Mochi? Regretting to come here without wearing your baby diapers, Aren't you? " The creature mocked in a deep sinister tone.

Zabuza's face contorted in rare show of anger . He made the sign again, and summoned forth more clones, half a dozen. The mist covering them became even thicker, Zabuza look alikes let go of any sort of Taijutsu, All of them unwrapped their huge sword and dashed towards Ben like a charging bull.

Naruto growled in anger but held himself back as he recalled the bell test. As much as he hated to admit that he couldn't take on a Jonin alone

"He is right Naruto," Sasuke had joined in, "Alone we don't stand a chance. But," he paused to make sure he had their attention, "remember what sensei has been teaching us, teamwork. We need to come up with a plan if we want to free sensei".

"Wait !" Sakura panicked "You two can't just charge in like a bunch of idiots. Zabuza is still a jonin, and we are just three genin".

Tazuna sighed, shoulders slumping over. "I guess this all happened because of me and my desire to live. But I won't let that stand in your way now. Forget about me and do what you have to do! Go and fight to save your sensei! "

The Jinchuriki chuckled at hearing this. , Tazuna really was courageous. Accepting the inevitable is a kind of courage too.

For once Naruto actually paused in thought, looking down at the ground. He soon gained a smile on his face though, and looked to Sasuke, who looked back, intrigued. Naruto then began to whisper his plan.

...xxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxx...

Ben was already on the move before the water clones charged towards him. He brandished his claws as he jumped forward, moving in speeds that his enemy had no clue he possessed. Landing in the middle of his enemies, swinging as hard, fast and with as much skill as he could in his current state . A couple of Water clones were unlucky enough to get hit, Zabuza and Kakashi's eyes widened as both look a likes of Zabuza completely shattered on the spot. Not even leaving a single evidence of their life behind.

Zabuza seemed shocked a mere bloodline user with no prior Ninja training could move as fast as he did or possess the amount of strength he possessed for his size. A water clone tried to slash the Ultimatrix bearer from behind, Striking with each and every ounce of strength he could muster. Unfortunately its sword shattered, Turning into nothing but a pool of water. Ben backflipped in the air and grabbed the said clone in a headlock. He grabbed its head by his another hand and pulled it apart from his body. Making it see its end.

The remaining duplicate roared in outrage and charged towards Ben. The last one tailed behind him as if to provide back up. Suddenly four muzzles of Ben's wolfish face opened, Shooting a green wave of Ultrasonic waves. The duplicate felt the force of several rhinos slamming onto his body as he flung in the air, Another one was caught in the motion too. Both look a likes kept spiralling in the air until their heads smashed onto a giant boulder. Their heads bursted out in numerous droplets of water and their bodies soon followed the course.

 _Ahh, this is a real shinobi at heart ! He could have been something back in the Bloody Mist! Perhaps he can join me and Haku when I–_

Zabuza was so much intrigued by the battle, that he almost didn't notice the giant shuriken headed his way, almost.

In an amazing display of strength Zabuza caught it effortlessly, In between two of his fingers nonetheless He glanced over to the mainland, shooting a cocky smirk at Sasuke, who was the one to attack him"Gonna have to try harder than that brat!" The swordsman blinked in surprise as he saw Sasuke was still gazing intently.

Zabuza then noticed that a second shuriken was headed his way, _"Hmm, a shadow shuriken to hit me after I caught the first. Trying to force me to move eh? Smart_. _But not smart enough"_. Indeed, Zabuza just hopped over the shuriken, glaring at Sasuke, "You can't touch me kid!" But Sasuke just smirked. Zabuza grew puzzled, but heard a puff come from behind him, and saw that the shuriken had transformed into the Jinchuriki himself, poised to throw a kunai, With an exploding tag attached to it

 _"A transformation!"_

" **Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu! "** Naruto yelled while in mid air. Zabuza's eyes widened as reality itself flashed into Orange. More than a thousand Naruto look a likes appeared alongside him, All of them charging towards him like an eagle. Genin or not, Zabuza couldn't take such number lightly, not wanting to get seriously injured, He was forced to dodge the sea of orange, letting go of the water orb, as multiple explosions shook the area. Team 7 cheered at the success of their plan.

Ben narrowed down his eyes as the smoke cleared, Zabuza landed on the other side of water surface. He had a few scratches on the body but overall he remained unscathed. He leveled his glare on the creature. The swordsman wanted nothing but slicing him into oblivion, Ben had survived through much extreme ordeals. Including lasers and missiles but considering the magical ninjas he didn't want to take a risk. He prepared himself for something like **Goop** or **Clockwork.** One of them was indestructible and extremely annoying to handle while another...well who fears superspeed when you have all the time in the world. However Ben didn't have to choose as Kakashi emerged out of the lake. Even though the Jonin's face was covered Ben could easily tell he was angry and it was wise to let him deal with Zabuza.

"Thank you for providing support and strength to my Genins, I owe you this one" The Jonin remarked with a grin, "Good work Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura " He looked fondly at each of his students, "I knew you could get me out". He then turned to glare at Zabuza, "Now then, I believe we have some unfinished business".

Zabuza snarled in response, "My thoughts exactly". With speed unknown to three genin, Zabuza appeared right above Kakashi. Even Ben's eyebrows threatened to drop from the sheer speed he had, He never saw a human moving as fast as a high speed racing car. Kakashi didn't even have the time to pull out his kunai before he was bisected by Zabuza's giant butcher knife. In an instant, he became two. He didn't even have the time to let out a death rattle.

"DIE!" shouted Zabuza with murderous glee as his blade cut through the last piece of flesh in Kakashi's body. Time seemed to slow down dramatically for young plumber. His eyes widened as he saw the top half of Kakashi being flung into the air by the sheer momentum of Zabuza's strike. His hands clenched into fists as he saw the confident smirk on Zabuza's face. He could feel his left eye twitch angrily but he paid it no mind as without hesitation, he furiously tapped into his symbol.

A green flash covered Ben's body as he swapped his transformation. He now turned into dark green skinned creature. Better known as his Florana alter ego **Wildvine. Wildvine** had two arms with four fingers on each hand, and his hands looked like they were covered with leaves. He had spikes on his hands and elbows. His hands and feet were dark green, and his body, arms, legs, and head were lime green. He had vines on his arms, and wrinkles on his stomach, neck, and a part of his legs. He had a large yellow-green leaf connected to his neck and torso, and had dark green lips. He had one blue eye, and a lime green leaf on top of his head. He also had dark green leaves on his back. Vines shot out from each part of his body, They pierced inside the ground and even deepest parts of entire lake. They connected with each and every tree standing there, Bringing them to life. Zabuza's eyes widened as huge thorny vines shot out from the trees, Breaking the ground in process.

Sturdy roots of trees shot out from the ground, Zabuza didn't even have time to utter his own death rattle as wrapped itself around Zabuza's neck with deadly force, snapping it on impact. Ben widened his eyes, surprised as his success before Zabuza quickly melted down into a puddle of water just like Kakashi's corpse.

 _"Damn his Ninja magic!_ " thought Ben as his eyes darted around his surroundings. He tapped on his chest once again, swapping his transformation into something else. A brilliant display of emerald lights covered his body. This time a manta ray sort of creature stood in his place. His skin was red in color and he had yellow horns extending from his nose, gills underneath his arms and yellow patagia which he used to fly and glide through water. It was none other than Ben's Aerophibian alter ego **Jetray.** Ben flapped his wings and quickly ascended into sky, Vanishing inside the clouds and leaving a very panicked Team 7 alongside a very much scared old man.

...xxxxxxx... XxxxxxxxxX...

Having quickly switched with a nearby water clone, Zabuza eyed Team Seven and the young plumber , feeling somewhat humbled by what he saw. He would have to hand it to the bloodline user. He didn't see any hesitation in his movements. This meant deep down the boy was a cold blooded murderer .

He let out a sigh as he felt the cold steel of a kunai gracing the side of his neck. Narrowing his eyes, he looked over at Kakashi.

"How did you find me?" asked Zabuza quietly.

"Easy. All I had to do was look out for the spare water clone you had. Then I waited patiently for you to use the **Body Replacement Jutsu,** " answered Kakashi

"Its over! " Kakashi spoke as he brought the kunai closer to the flesh of the Assassin. 'Did you just say it's over?" asked Zabuza, "You don't understand, do you?"

"You won't be able to beat me with your fade out, fade back in techniques.." continued Zabuza, his voice lowering in pitch and becoming much more intimidating, "You have no chance."

"Especially now that you are separated with from the very people who could have interfered! " remarked Zabuza with a chuckle.

"I'm horribly disappointed. I thought you would have given me a decent challenge since you're quite infamous in the bingo books," said Zabuza, prompting Kakashi to widen his eyes. "They said you were good, It seems you lost your edge after your beloved sensei, Fourth Hokage got killed" remarked Zabuza, referring to those who used to publish the information within the bingo books and the Kyuubi attack

"Sadly, being good means nothing if you fall for the same trick twice."

With that said, Zabuza quickly slammed the back of his head into Kakashi's nose before disappearing into a torrent of water, Thoroughly soaking the anterior of Kakashi's uniform. Despite being a ninja from the very tender age of Six, he was taken completely by surprise but recovered quickly enough to detect the real Zabuza behind him. It was only his vast amounts of expertise rescued him from being torn into shreds by Zabuza's huge sword.

Kakashi's eyes widened at the sheer weight of Zabuza's blade as it pierced deep into the solid ground . His eyes widened even further as Zabuza shifted his weight using the hilt of his sword to deliver a painful, bone crushing drop kick into his chest.

"Guh!" Kakashi cried as his back was slammed into a tree.

He didn't get even a second to recover as he was forced to duck underneath a violent slash from Zabuza's blade that would have definitely ended him. The blade managed to drill itself deeply into the wood, giving Kakashi the perfect strategy to counter Zabuza's onslaught.

A swift elbow into Zabuza's liver forced the much larger man to stagger backwards , Providing Kakashi the room to quickly weave out from underneath him. Twisting his body around Zabuza so that he was now behind the swordsman, he spurred himself away by jumping off Zabuza's back, Not wanting to be anywhere near his much physically superior opponent. For the first time in his life Kakashi regretted not sparring with Gai as much as he should have over the years.

"Tch," grunted Zabuza before pulling out his zanbato from the tree.

 _"This isn't good,"_ thought Kakashi as he glanced at Zabuza, " _At least there is no water close by for Zabuza to use his water release_.."

 _"I must end this quickly.._ "

Kakashi's narrowed down his eyes at Zabuza with a clear intent to kill, He brandished his kunai and shot forward in high speeds . Gathering chakra around his feet he pushed himself off the ground , All set to bury his kunai into the side of Zabuza's neck.

"Too easy!" shouted Zabuza as he impaled his massive blade through Kakashi's stomach. With a revolting feeble sound, Kakashi slowly slid down the blade, his weight forcing him to endure even more pain. Zabuza smirked at his victory before widening his eyes as Kakashi grabbed his neck. He looked up into Kakashi's eyes, taking note of his almost casual smile before he felt his muscles clench and tighten up uncontrollably as electricity was sent through his body.

"Gughghgrghh!" Zabuza cried in pain as Kakashi's body dispersed into a human sized bolt of electricity , forcing him onto his knees.

Kakashi didn't miss his chance to strike the incapacitated Swordsman, dashing out from his hiding spot and charging a significant amount of lightning chakra into his right hand. He charged towards Zabuza, his hand poised to deliver the finishing blow.

 **"Chidori! "** Kakashi hustled forward like a bullet, Ready to pierce Zabuza's heart and he could have easily done so only if...

Kakashi's strike could have gone deeper. Zabuza grabbed his wrist as chakra swirled around his body. The copy nin realized something went wrong. While his attack did injure Zabuza, It didn't injure him enough. Zabuza must have been pushing himself beyond his limits ever since he defected from Kiri, His reflexes and chakra enhanced durability made him capable enough withstand his attack just by sheer strength and durability. Blood dripped from Zabuza's wounds as he smashed his head onto Kakashi's. The copy nin stumbled backwards, His eyes becoming watery due to taking a heavy blow on his nose. Finally Zabuza gave him a powerful uppercut which sent him flying through the air.

Due to tremendous shinobi training, he was able to quickly land back on his feet. He tried to take a taijutsu stance but fell on his knees. Realizing he was hit by chakra exhaustion. Zabuza let out a chuckle, Not even a little bit affected by the wound on his chest. Kakashi cursed as he realized where he went wrong, Zabuza was living in a war but he wasn't. The Copy nin hadn't fought against someone of his caliber and intent to kill, Gai was truly a beast but their spars were just Spars. A method to maintain their shape and not lose their sharp instincts. Zabuza on the other hand was a fugitive of high caliber, He had to fend off enemies from all sides. It was Zabuza's drive for survival which allowed him to beat Kakashi today. Kakashi closed his eyes as Zabuza walked towards him with the massive blade in his hand.

 _"I hope you forgive me in afterlife. Rin... Obito... Minato Sensei! "_

He took a long breath , Preparing to face his death proudly. However before Zabuza could attack him, Several emerald beams fired from the sky sending him spiralling backwards. The Swordsman cried in pain as if he had been stung by a horde of bees. Zabuza tried to stand up but he couldn't, He quickly deduced that his nervous system had been attacked. **Jetray** descended on the ground with the speed rivalling of Ballistic Missile, Without wasting a single moment he smashed his glowing fist into Zabuza's neck. Utilizing Grandmaster Kundo's famed technique . The impact of the fist made Zabuza's skull smashing on the ground, Digging a hole underneath.

Quickly Ben tapped on to symbol, An emerald flashed engulfed his body as he transformed into something else. It was red skinned muscular humamoid creature with an extra pair of arms. It had spikes on his arms and head. Not only that, It also had two front toes on each foot. It was approximately twelve feet tall and It was dressed up in a white T-shirt with a black line going down it, black pants, and fingerless gloves. That was none other than Ben's Tetramend Alter ego **Four Arms.**

"I am so going to enjoy this, George of the Jungle! " Ben grinned smugly as he continued thrashing the nuke nin. One of his blows nearly crushed his windpipe. It was by some miracle that Zabuza didn't die just then. Ben's eyebrows twitched lazily before he grit his teeth in anger. Ben didn't know if this man deserved to live or die but he needed to kill him before Zabuza could do the same to him. There were no second chance scenarios here, Ben needed to do the inevitable. Ben could see him choking and the blood staining the bandages covering his mouth as he gripped him tighter.

"Release Zabuza-sama at once or the lives of your comrade's are forfeit!"

Ben growled low in his throat and turned, only to freeze at the sight he saw. A masked ninja – obviously affiliated with the bastard in his grip if his ridiculous term of endearment was anything to go by – stood calmly in-between Naruto and Sasuke with his arms spread in either direction, senbon pointed directly at the throat of both Naruto and Sasuke. Ben let out a groan, This guy must have been a hell lot fast. He carried Naruto and Sasuke all the way here within no time while Ben was busy in giving Zabuza a beatdown. The situation could have been worse. The masked shinobi could have easily killed Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura and Tazuna too, Before he appeared here. It was a quick decision, Ben slammed all four of his hands as hard as he could into Zabuza's temple and tossed him roughly towards land. So he could get enough time to swap into something which could deal with the crazy speed of said villain, However the masked-nin took his opportunity and fled with him before anyone could even blink, disappearing in a shower of water and what looked like ice.

Ben didn't know if he was hallucinating or the adrenaline surging through his veins was playing tricks on his ears, but he could have sworn he'd heard someone whisper, 'Thank you.'

"At least he didn't try to kill us! " Kakashi sighed with a lazy yawn. Back into his sitting position.

"What the hack just happened?" Sasuke demanded the moment they were all close enough, wincing as the energy seemed to be leaving him.

"It's ridiculous! " Naruto huffed in annoyance, wiping a pearl of crimson blood from his throat. "That masked ninja just appeared out of thin air ready to take out our throats. And he was around my age too"

"You should have paid more attention to your surroundings, Dobe! " Sasuke frowned

"Don't put this on me! " Naruto screamed

Kakashi let out a sigh, He took out a soldier pill from his pocket and gulped it as fast as he could. He still needed to rest and he was no longer in condition to fight a ninja for a couple of weeks. But the pill allowed him to regain his top notch condition for the time being. It was temporary at best but fortunately Zabuza had to do a lot more than a few soldier pills to get in shape

"Zabuza was a Jounin around your age, So was I. Fourth Hokage was stronger than what I am now even when he was 14." Kakashi explained as he walked towards trio, Ruffing Naruto's head with a smile " I'd think this is an opportunity for you to learn that, at times, things won't turn out the way you want or hope. And instead of whining and moaning about it, you can take it in stride, and move on with your life."

"Besides being a hero doesn't mean isn't just beating baddies everyday. It's about you, Your relationship with the people around you. It means looking them in the eyes with conviction and telling that you did everything you could have done to help. Strength and skills can be achieved through efforts but not a passionate heart who strives to protect everyone! " Ben spoke out with a genuine smile, " Besides I don't think you wanna be known as the guy who quit in the middle of rescuing a country which is your first most important mission right now just because he got cold feet at the last moment ". Naruto looked up at Ben before he gained a soft smile due to the kind words.

That smile grew into a full-blown grin as he stood up however, "By the way, you were awesome! How did you do all that, and what was that transformation jutsu you pulled out back there?" Ben gulped at that, (foolishly) hoping that his little spectacle would be forgotten in light of recent events. He then felt a hand clap his shoulder, and saw Kakashi's "happy" face.

"Oh yes, you have quite a bit of explaining to do young man. Of course, that can wait until we get to Tazuna's place" Kakashi waved for everyone to follow, Ben mentally prepared himself as they walked towards Tazuna's home. As much he knew Tsunami and Kakashi knew Sakura, A lot of screaming were going to follow.

...xxxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxx...

Finally they made it to Countryside of Land of the Waves, Where Tazuna's home was located. It took a bit more than Ben was expecting but well, He was so much used to Teleportation or just going alien all the time. He didn't let his frustration show though, He was a grown adult for crying out loud. Naruto constantly kept pestering him about his abilities while other ninjas pretty much ruled it out as some sort of bloodline limit.

As soon as they entered inside the house, They were greeted by Tazuna's the very much enthusiastic , Tsunami, and she'd had dinner dished out for them in what seemed like no time at all, as well as some homemade sake for Kakashi and Tazuna – none for the Genins and Ben, because they were still children in her eyes. In a magical display of skills, She had managed to cook, clean, catch up on their journey so far and take a look at the injuries suffered while pointing out this and that, allowing them to clean up before the food was served still warm and delicious.

As they settled down, Kakashi was the first one to address the elephant in the room. "Now ...Ben! What do you have to say for yourself? "

Everyone turned to Ben, Who let out a yawn as he stretched his hands. He wasn't prepared to share his secret with the ninjas, Even those who seemed good.

Man! They were called Ninjas for a reason.

"So, What do you want to know? "

Kakashi replied casually "Your village and clan would be nice. And where did you get these…abilities of yours?"

"I believe I got my ability to call upon the powers of certain creatures when I was ten years old. My parents were pretty much normal civilian and we lived in a quiet boring town. My grandfather was a wise man and he helped me towards his best ability. My cousin could do a lot of the thing you guys can do and for a certain time she tried to teach me but I couldn't learn much except of conjuring a shield, resistance to mind control and illusions and my instructor who was named Rook taught me how to imbue your muscles with your life force, something which you saw doing while fighting against Zabuza." Ben spoke with an inward sigh. There was no way in hell he was going to tell these guys the complete truth.

" **Contego"**

As soon as Ben uttered those words a bluish force field made of mana appeared in front of them, Everyone leveled incredulous glare at Ben as he tried to stab it using a kitchen knife, Showing how durable that was.

"You guys use life force right? Something like combination of physical and mental energy"

"It's called Chakra in elemental nations, Ben-san! " Sakura corrected the Young plumber.

"Who cares what that is called! All it matters is you could do things using by it" Ben responded with a yawn. Kakashi facepalmed, This was the guy who saved him!

"Yep, Way to go Ben! " Naruto chuckled, Finally he met someone who didn't give much importance to Catra nonsense. They were definitely going to get along.

Kakashi chose to accept the answer and move on, "And how did you end up here?"

Ben hesitated for a while before he replied vaguely, " A while back...my town was attacked by some mysterious people and as it turned out they were after me and my cousin Gwen ! " Everyone leaned forward at hearing this, "I don't know how or when it started, But my enemies despised me and Gwen. They wanted nothing but ending our existence" Everyone started to frown at hearing that, Naruto felt that this was going to hit a little close to home, Ben closed his eyes. Remembering those who faced death in the time wars. Rook Blonko, Maxwell Tennyson, Lucy Mann, Cooper Daniels and a lots of other Plumbers, "My friends and family fought back with all our might and we did fought long and hard. But we didn't win. My Grandfather sacrificed his life and one of my best friends got slaughtered, Just so I could survive! "

Ben clenched his fists in outrage, Tazuna and Kakashi were started to wear heavy frowns on their faces. Naruto looked like he had been banned from eating Ramen forever. Sasuke was deep in thought starting to think of their similar, if slightly different, situations.

"I hid at first, Watching those people slaughtering back and forth. One day I lost patience and tried to take them down with me. I guess that didn't work out as I had hoped and I somehow ended up in the middle of a sea. When I arrived here, I saw things were pretty messed up here too. I may not have succeeded in making difference back home but I won't fail again. This time, I will beat the Big bad and save the people. No matter what happens, I will see this through my very end. " Ben concluded with fire in his eyes"

Tsunami and Sakura had started full on crying at this point, Inari had tears streaming from his eyes. Sasuke was deep in thoughts, Awkwardly patting Sakura's head who leaned in for support. Naruto had a gloomy expression on his face, Sad enough to not to be jealous of Sasuke right now. Tazuna patted little Inari on the head while Kakashi gazed at the ceiling, Thinking about Horrors of Ninja world.

"Well, I believe you saved my life back there. So I can teach you a couple of tricks to even the odds. Zabuza will attack again, Alongside his assistant. Having you with us can level the playing field" Kakashi cleared his own throat, Breaking the pregnant silence, "For the time being you will be training with my Genins! "

"What sort of training? " Ben raised an eyebrow, "I gotta warn you though, I am not that good with this life force manipulating stuff. I am only good with basic and intermediate control! "

"You can't be worse than Dobe! " Sasuke huffed causing Naruto's eyebrows to twitch in irritation. Naruto grumbled at the rude remark, However he had stars in his eyes at the thought training for such fight.

"It's simple! " Kakashi gave a light chuckle, Reminding Ben of Plumber Rook Blonko when he taught him **Stone Cutter,** "You are going to climb trees! "

...xxxxxxxxxx... Xxxxxxxxxxxx...

The Jounin led three genins and the young plumber outside of the cottage, They continued walking until they reached an area surrounded by huge trees.

"How is tree climbing training?" Naruto asked, voicing the thoughts of everyone there.

"Oh!" Kakashi sounded as if he'd remembered just why it was training, but none of the teens in the group believed that for a second. "You seem to be thinking that you'll be allowed to use your hands for this training! Sorry, I guess I forgot to mention that little fact. No hands allowed."

"Uh…No hands?" Naruto asked with a squint face. "Then how the hell are we supposed to climb the tree?" The other two nodded with his assessment.

"You use chakra. Shinobi generally regard the feet as the hardest place to channel chakra, even more so since the feet are usually covered by sandals. Thus it is that much harder because you have to force chakra through the rubber. Of course, it varies from person to person, but I guarantee that all three of you will fall at least once." With that, the masked jounin faced the tree behind him and proceeded to walk straight at it. When he got to it, Kakashi just kept walking, straight up the ancient giant, never once breaking stride, and finally reached the lowest branch, some ninety feet over their heads. The three teens gaped at the ease at which their leader had done it, while Ben had seen Rook doing similar things while training him.

During the battle he saw Kakashi and Zabuza were running on water. They probably did it by using their mana to cause friction with the liquid surface and manipulate it in order to stand on the lake. However , from what he experienced during Rook's training sessions, using mana frequently proved to be quite tiresome. Which was the reason he had a hard time properly practising this part.

 **26 Months Ago, Plumber's training grounds, Amazon rainforest**

 _Ben shuddered at hearing the sound of violent rushing water growing louder as he walked further, following his rather feline looking combat instructor, Magister Rook Blonko. Also known as one of the universe's finest and fiercest martial artists. Not even Vilgax dared to challenge him in a direct combat._

 _"Ah, This place seems most suffice." Rook smiled at him as they stopped near the edge of a river which eventually submerged into a huge waterfall. The water in front of appearing completely white due to quick turbulent flow , violent splashes of that managed to dip and churn huge rocks over the course of a time._

 _Ben dumbfounded, blinking in confusion, "Uh...Rook! What are you going to make me do today?"_

 _Rook turned to his current pupil, "Simple, Today I am going to train you in the art of chi manipulation."_

 _"Chi?" Ben raised an eyebrow, "You mean Mana? like my cousin does."_

 _"In a way both of them are similar and yet extremely different. Both words mana and chi points towards the life energy which is present in all living beings residing in this universe, perhaps except ectonurites as their sense of life and death are much different compared to us. A Chi adept such as myself uses life energy in order to become one with the universe. It allows me to go beyond the limits of mortality, allowing me to perform a number of feats that a person of my species otherwise won't be able to. " Rook explained with a slight smile, adding as a matter of fact " A Mage or in short someone like your cousin can perform spells, A spell is a specific action which — when performed correctly — channels your life force in way that allows the individual to achieve a specific result based on the composition of the casting. Spells allow individuals to alter reality on certain levels, such as affecting the physical properties of objects and people, giving the caster access to supernatural powers and changing the very mechanics of reality itself. However it requires intense concentration, vast knowledge in number of ancient languages and sometimes, expertise in the usage of talismans , potions and other ingredients. Magic is a selective as not everyone can access it but chi is indiscriminate. Anyone with the right mind can learn it as long as that individual is willing to make real efforts."_

 _"That makes sense. My cousin has been trying to teach me how to do some minor magic spells but they happen to be quite draining. I can't risk using them in battles." Ben responded with a nod._

 _"I believe the main reason behind it is your life force reserves, You need to practice more and perform a number of spiritual exercises in order to increase your mana capacity. However , with what I am planning to teach you, you should be able to use both Chi and mana based techniques as if they were as natural as breathing to you." Rook concluded with a smirk, which sent shivers running through Ben's spines. He clearly remembered what happened to him last time when he saw his instructor's happy face._

 ** _Flashback (A couple of weeks ago)_**

 _Ben gritted his teeth together as he performed a single handstand against the wall while balancing an egg between his teeth , a stack of books on each of his feet and a jug filled with hot milk on his free hand. He sweated bullets as blood in his body rushed to the wrong direction. It had been nearly an hour since he had been in this position, trying his best to not to collapse on the floor right there and then. To say that he was under a lot of stress would be an understatement, a few moments ago he barely managed to change hands for the twentieth time in the row and moved the stack of books from one foot to another. A couple of them fell in the process, but his teacher immediately walked towards him and put them in the same position they were._

 _It was a basic but really effective exercise for getting the grasp over your mana, improve your structural integrity and increase your aptitude with manipulating mana. Ben really thanked Gwen for constantly pestering him about learning some sort of life force manipulation otherwise he would have passed out right here and then. Focusing mana on the top of his head allowed him to create a gravity shift at his core and rotate it at his will, not only negating the adverse effects of his current situation but also allowing his blood to be pumped regularly and evenly distributed in the various parts of his body like it normally should have._

 _But that didn't mean it was easy to maintain this effect. He felt like he was a marathon runner on the verge of making world record, focusing and conjuring Mana on the top of his head, it was not only excruciatingly hard but also ridiculously exhausting._

 _"Fifteen more minutes..." Rook remarked with a lazy yawn_

 _"YOU SAID THAT AN HOUR AGO!" Ben screamed in outrage._

 **Flashback end**

 _"You will be swimming from here..." Rook spoke out in a nonchalant tone, pointing towards the at violent, swirling vortex and the awfully high hill from where the stream actually originated, "from there."_

 _"You gotta be kidding me." Ben shook his head in disbelief._

 _"No, I am not. Chi flows inside your body through small pressure points which are roughly around the same size as the tip of a small needle. Most mages can only release chi through their hands and sometimes their head, in order to perform spells. However a chi adept must learn how to access those unused energy points, in order to increase his physical strength, sense of perception, reflexes and overall speed. This also happens to be one of the three principles of the fighting style of my race, **Stone Cutter: Fist of Seventh Heaven. "** Rook explained as matter of fact._

 _"But, it's hard to scale through that unless I fly over them and you are not a huge fan of me using aliens during the training session." As usual Ben was pretty vocal about his objection._

 _"You need to fight against the current of this waterfall by emitting just adequate amount of Chi from various points of your body. Too much, you will be blasted off and too little you won't be able to cause enough friction on the surface of water to stop your descent in the river. The main issue you will be facing here is how to force out your chi through your clothes and shoes. Of course, the amount may differ from person to person . In short, it's about finding the balance between two opposing forces only then you will be able to climb through the upward stream and reach the hill up there. Besides there are also a lot of side benefits. Swimming against the current, especially with the huge vortex in this corner will help with increasing your body's resilience to physical damage. Your overall muscular endurance will be increased. " Rook responded in a casual tone, as if this wasn't such a big deal._

 _"It's not like I mind working my ass of but this is quite risky." Ben sighed, appearing unsure for a moment. He didn't want to get sucked inside the torrent and lose his life by getting his head smashed against a bunch of jagged rocks._

 _"Ben, I know this probably seems harsher compared to other traditional forms of training you are used to but promise me when I say, This is the only way you can match against the likes of Khyber and Servantis. You have the Ultimatrix and you are quite proficient at using it but there might be a situation when you may require other forms of combat in order to defeat your enemies. Or where your teammates are not with you to make up for your weaknesses. And trust me everyone does have a weakness in some form. No one is completely unbeatable. It's also highly likely that the number of your enemies are just going to pile up as the time passes by, you must advance as fast as you can. There is no other option." Rook claimed in a serious tone._

 _After thinking for a while, Ben's eyes hardened. Remembering how helpless he felt when Albedo took away his omnitrix , how he couldn't do a single thing when charmcaster sacrificed their souls to some ancient demon, in order to revive her father. He hated feeling weak, especially after spending most of his lives trying to make others believe that he was awesome. He never wanted to find himself in such situations once again._

 _"Fine. I will do it. " Ben sighed in defeat, "But I need to use **Blitzwolfer** first" He added in a slight mortified tone, staring at the turbulent water._

 _This is going to be a long day._

 **Flashback end**

Recalling his previous lessons, Ben took a long breath. Within no time the energy started gathering around his feet. They started to glow with cerulean aura as Ben walked towards nearby pond. Water was known to have natural surface tension and would resists the efforts of anything trying to break through. Of course, that only went so far and anything heavier than an insect couldn't really take advantage of it. Surprisingly as soon as Ben put his foot on the water, It became stuck like a gum. Ben took another step forward . It felt… squishy, like standing on thick jello.

Naruto grabbed one of the kunai and turned to a tree, a determined look on his face, "Just watch!" he yelled, "I'll master this in no time, believe it!" With a cry, Naruto rushed his tree. He planted a foot on its trunk, and lifted the other foot, running up a few steps, but fell on his head with a loud thud.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde's display, and then ran to his own tree. He climbed higher than Naruto, but he soon shot backwards off of the tree, splintering the wood. He managed to right himself before he fell to the ground though. Kakashi chuckled at the boy's attempts, "Well," he commented dryly, "you two certainly know what you're doing". His students gave him dirty looks, He glanced at Ben who seemed to have drifted on his own. He blinked in realization as he saw Ben jogging on the surface of a pond, Albeit in a very slow pace.

"Whoa! That is amazing " Sakura yelled from the highest spot on the tree, "Can we do that? "

Naruto gazed up in awe at Sakura, and began to praise her. She ignored him however, in favor of looking to Sasuke. All three of them however quickly turned to Ben, Who was zigzagging back and forth, Each step was a little more certain, More sturdier

The first step, before Water Walking, is Tree Walking," Kakashi explained, Deep inside his gears were in full motion _"Okay, so Ben and Sakura have some incredible chakra control, how else would she get the exercise down on her first try and the other one who just have basic knowledge of raw chakra can do Water Walking. Naruto didn't even stick to the tree, so he needs to learn how to mold his chakra better. Sasuke managed to climb a few feet, but sent himself flying, so he can mold the chakra, he just can't control the amount needed"_

"I am like a mermaid now, La la la" Ben pumped his fists in the air, He backflipped on the surface of the pond, Hoping to find a clear landing following by a high jump.

"KYAAH! "

Unfortunately pond didn't agree with him as the Ultimatrix bearer got pulled inside. Splashing a huge amount of water everywhere around. A green flash engulfed the darkness as something other than Ben stepped out from water. It was a huge muscular tiger like humanoid, It had orange fur, white muzzles, hands, stomachs, chests, and feet. Black stripes were on his head, back and shoulders. It had four-fingered hands and three-toed feet. That was none other than Ben's Appoplexian alter ego **Rath**

"LEMME TELL YA SOMETHING PONDY, RATH IS NO LONGER AFRAID OF WATER. YOU GOTTA PAY FOR DROWNING RATH LIKE THAT! "

And towards everyone's amusement, Ben started smashing his glowing fists on the water surface. Trying to beat up the "pond"

"Is he the same guy who saved you, Sensei? " Sasuke facepalmed

"Well, All's well that ends well! " Kakashi sighed.

...xxxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxxxx...


	4. Chapter 4

Somewhere in the Wave Country, not too far from where this commotion was happening , there was a conical hut, Hanging in between some trees by thick ropes of some kind, and had narrow windows which had prison like feel cut into the exterior.

This was the hideout for infamous Momochi Zabuza.

The Demon of the Mist himself, though, was busy sleeping under the watchful eye of his female companion, Haku. The girl had removed her mask, revealing her long hair, which she kept tied up in a traditional bun, though the former hunter-nin had untied it and allowed her hair to spill down her back in a brown waterfall. As for Haku, she too appeared to be asleep, but ask any shinobi who'd been around the block a few times and they'd tell you that Haku wasn't sleeping. What she was doing was more of watching with your eyes closed, using every sense, from hearing to touch, to get a feel for her surroundings.

It was proven true when the double oak doors to the bedroom opened. Though the well-oiled hinges made no sound, Haku's vigilant eyes flashed open in an instant, her left hand, the one on the opposite direction from the door and out of the intruder's line of sight, flashed into a hidden pouch, grabbing some needles. Now the hand withdrew, sliding the thin weapons out of the holster without a sound. Zabuza also woke up, seemingly in a coincidence, but the timing was too good for that. He'd woken up with enough time to throw a kunai, should the need arise, and with this man, that just might be necessary.

"Well, well, well," the new arrival's voice grated on Zabuza's nerves even more than the thought of the brat who'd kicked his ass. Gatou was a short little bastard, complete with pinstripe suit, walking stick, glasses, and hired guns. The Mist-nin conveniently forgot that, right now, he was one of those hired guns as well. "Never thought I'd see the day when the 'great demon' Zabuza got his ass handed to him by the same friggin' kid who beat up his associates !"

"How'd you know about that?" Zabuza snapped, knowing that Haku would've never allowed that information to see the light.

The businessman laughed, waving his cane, "I got eyes in all the right places."

"He wasn't supposed to be there, bastard." The disabled shinobi ground out. "If I had known The Beast was going to be there, I would have been more prepared to take him down. How did you know all this? "

Now Gatou laughed outright. "Whoever said that my eyes were living? Ever hear of cameras? Sheesh. You damn shinobi never really give a crap about technology do you? Always thinking those weird jutsus of yours will get the job done," the tiny man held up his hands in a helpless gesture as he spoke before leveling his walking stick at Zabuza. "When will ya learn that the ultimate weapon is money!? Look, thanks to money, I can afford people like you! And I can bribe fools into doing what I want! No blackmail or evil jutsu needed! Face it. You're obsolete!"

"You will not speak to Zabuza-san that way." It was the first time Haku had spoken in the tiny bureaucrat's presence and there was some heat to the girl's cold tone. "If you will not leave now, I will kill you."

"Ah, you kill me!?" Gatou taunted, now rounding on Haku. He took a couple of steps forward and reached up with his cane, poking Haku roughly in the cheek a few times. "As if you could!"

Haku's arm flashed and Gatou's cane went flying, shattered into two pieces by the force of the kid's blow. The businessman stumbled backwards, almost tripping, but he bumped into a hard object. Before the tiny man could see what he'd hit, an arm snaked around his neck and a hand on the back of his head pushed forward, forcing Gatou into a choke that had the man turning blue and gurgling for air in a matter of few seconds.

"Yes. I can kill you," Haku's breath tickled the side of the man's face, and her voice was low in the short man's ear. Gatou would have even called it sexy if there wasn't an incredible amount of malice just beneath the surface. He didn't get any time to catch his breath as the hunter-nin seized his arm, crunching the bones together, and hurled him to land at the feet of his hired samurai. All three took one terrified look at Haku, who raised some threatening senbon in warning.

"You should leave while you can. I am really pissed off right now." The masked ninja snarled, giving the shrewd businessman and his cronies a glare which looked like it could burn through their skulls.

"One more chance!" Gatou shouted in a show of fake bravado, shaking his unbroken hand into a fist, "I am giving you just one more chance to finish this! If you fail I will let every ninja in the fricking bloody mist know where you are." Gatou and his two thugs left, slamming the door on their way out

Zabuza watched as his best weapon strode over to the doors and jerked them closed, the only thing betraying his irritation.

"You didn't have to do anything, Haku," the laid up jounin told the icy shinobi. He lifted the covers on his bed, revealing the hidden kunai that he could have killed Gatou with in a heartbeat, had the little idiot given him the chance. The removal of the covers also revealed just how much damage Kakashi's **Chidori** had done to the Mist-nin. There were bandages over much of Zabuza's bare torso, holding broken ribs and other bones together, most of them bulging from some form of hidden swelling. In courtesy of one Ben Tennyson, A massive bruise decorated what little exposed skin was visible, and, just hidden by Zabuza's body, was his right arm, bound up and splinted. Haku had been using every single ounce of medical ninjutsu she had picked up over all these years to speed the healing process, but it was still taking time.

"I know." Haku said with a smile, " But it's too early to kill Gatou. If we cause commotion right now, The hunters will be alerted about our presence. We must be patient. Besides with in a week and half you should be able to move without much trouble but knowing you, You will probably be up and about sooner."

Zabuza glanced at his partner from a corner of his eyes and smirked, " You are so pure and clever, That's what I like about you."

Looking down at her master, Haku asked a question, "Will you be alright, next time? "

The swordsman sharply narrowed down his eyes, letting out something akin to a growl, "Next time, I will show Kakashi and the beast what it feels to face a true demon's wrath."

 **...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...**

Eventually all genins began working on the exercise their instructor showed them and Ben joined them as well as he didn't have anything better to do. Besides Kakashi put emphasis on mastering this technique before he could teach him anything else. Now Ben was aware of the purpose behind such complex exercises which revolved around channeling a certain portion of your life force in your body parts. **Stone Cutter** was all about channeling the right amount of energy through your fist in order to generate an incredible output , providing you the opportunity to take out someone or something many times durable or stronger than you. Now the second part was a bit trickier and it was something he didn't bother to work on ever since he finished training under Rook.

In order for the Stone Cutter to be truly impactful , one needed to control and maintain channeling the right amount of chi through his/her muscles , allowing themselves to increase their strength, perception and speed for the time being. After truly mastering how to do that, you can also figure out how to use the Stone Cutter in a defensive way. Rook decided to leave it up to Ben, believing that he needed to move forward and figure out his own path from there. Something which his own master did with him. However, whenever he found himself in a really tense battle, it became harder for him to focus on his chi and maintain his chi levels. Which had proved to be disastrous during some of his battles. However there was no way around that except performing the basics again and again until it became the second nature to you. At that time, Ben was busy dealing with the combined forces of Maltruant and Vilgax . So finding time to revisit his training was a bit harder.

It felt awkward the moment his feet touched the tree. He had no trouble causing friction with the surface and actually stick with it. Wearing sneakers and socks didn't make that much of a different since Rook made it compulsory for him to wear them during the very beginning. To be honest, it was a lot like jogging but as he started scaling the vertical surface, he felt the push of gravity . With every step he took, he needed to make sure and add enough strength. At the same time, making sure, not to overdo it and get blasted off the surface. The main issue lied in the fact that he needed to constantly change the amount of chi once he started climbing his way up and to climb down you also needed different amount of chi. Which was easier said than done.

Even though Sakura managed to perform the exercise with ease, Kakashi insisted that for now, she needed to continue practising this with her team.

Naruto had it the toughest, he could barely climb five steps before hitting the ground. However, he was bound to have trouble with chakra control thanks to his special "background" Sasuke managed to somewhat reach in the middle but he had trouble with progressing further. Ben was clearly having a better time than those two but he still couldn't reach the top with as much ease as Sakura did.

" _This is different than what I am used to."_ Ben thought as he took a seat next to his tree. Taking a few sips of orange juice from his drinking bottle. " _While I can gain momentum by running towards tree, It messes up the amount of energy I need to emit from my feet. With every step I take, it gets more and more difficult. I need to figure out how to stand before I learn how to walk."_

Sasuke stared at the young Tennyson who appeared deep in thoughts . Deciding to watch him closely. He knew that the mysterious boy was a capable fighter and he had managed to defeat two chunin level ninjas by solely relying on his kekkei genkai without having any sort of prior shinobi education whatsoever. There was something unusual about him. He had already seen one of his transformations in action and that was pretty darn impressive. If he could fight someone like Ben and win, Then he would get one step closer to killing him.

He noticed that Ben had stopped from working on the exercise. The look on his face suggesting that he was strategizing about something. Most likely the exercise on their hands.

Standing up on his feet, Ben slowly placed his feet in the tree, took a certain number of steps and... just simply stood there. Not falling but not advancing either. He stood there for ten minutes straight, taking several long breaths while doing so.

" _What is he up to now? The point of this exercise is to reach the top of the tree? Not just stand there!"_ Sasuke blinked in confusion, unable to figure out what the young Tennyson actually intended to do.

Suddenly, A grin formed on Ben's face as he jumped out of the tree. Taking a few steps back, he took a short run and started climbing the tree. However this time he slowed down his pace around the part he was standing before. Afterwards, he kept going ...and going at an extremely relaxed pace. This time he was able to smoothly reach the top branch of the tree without any sort of difficulties.

 _"Huh, How did he do it?"_ Sasuke scowled. Ever since the beginning of the exercise Ben was having trouble progressing further from the middle part of the tree. Even though he managed to reach much higher than Sasuke and Naruto, he couldn't make it to the top. Until now. But what changed? What did he a non ninja manage to figure it out that Sasuke couldn't? It was quite baffling situation for the young Uchiha.

" _I gotta give it to Ben. He is smarter than he looks."_ Kakashi thought with a smile. By standing at the middle of the tree for ten minutes, he was able to calculate the exact amount of chakra needed to climb further. " _Once his body and brain works together, he can turn out to be quite the force to be reckoned with."_

 _"Darn it! How come he is so good at this?"_ Naruto mentally ranted, not really happy to see Ben outperforming him in this exercise. While he was on much friendlier terms with Ben than Sasuke, He still felt the need to surpass Ben. Besides they were literally taken out by Zabuza's assistant last time around, that alone was enough for leaving him quite a bit miffed about the whole situation. Even if he didn't take Ben into consideration, Sasuke's marks were still a bit higher than his own.

He bought his hands together to get the chakta needed to try the technique once again. Dust blasted up from intense chakra flow as he charged for the tree. He tried to get a bit higher but gravity quickly asserted itself on him.

"Wagh! " He cried as he fell on the ground. Ben forced a significant amount of chi inside his legs as he shot forward. Feeling amazed at the increase in his speed, He reached Naruto a few moments before he was going to fall. Grabbing Naruto by his collar Ben put him down.

"You gotta be careful Future Hokage! " The Ultimatrix wielder joked, "If you get injured here, Who is going to battle Zabuza and Co? "

Naruto's face split into a wide grin at the comment. Even though Ben didn't literally mean it word by word, The kid had been working really hard for a while, he got a few nasty bumps on his head thanks to the constant failures with the exercise but he didn't let it dissuade him from keep going on. His tenacity was really impressive Besides he could use some morale. Especially in this condition.

"Oh please! All this little runt can do is get in your way" Everyone turned to see who had spoken and found themselves looking at Inari, who stepped out from the bushes.

"What did you say?!" Naruto cried. He pointed at Inari. "Listen up! I am the super hero Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage of Konoha!"

"You're no hero!" Inari frowned. "You don't even come close! Big brother helps us everyday! Even more than just fighting! He gets food for us, He is helping Grampa build the bridge with his super powers. He protects us while we sleep and He doesn't even ask for anything in return!"

Ben facepalmed at hearing that, Usually he would be happy to see some backbone and positivity in the little kid. Unfortunately, That was directed in a wrong way. May be Ben just set the bar too high for the time being. Well, That was complicated.

"Why you-!" Naruto growled as he began to walk over to thump Inari on the head for being rude. Well, he would have if Ben hadn't physically restrained him. Naruto struggled for a few more moments before he calmed down enough for him to let go.

As Inari was leaving, He spared a last glance at the orange clad Ninja. "If you really want to help, Don't get in way while Big brother is wiping the floor with Gato! "

"Sorry about that! " Ben sighed while rubbing the back of his head, "The kid had it rough. His father was murdered by Gato right in front of him, Not only that Gato hung his body upside down infront of all the town just to show his power. He will be fine once Gato will be killed. He may even start calling you Naruto-sama after that! "

"That doesn't give him right to insult me! " Naruto huffed in annoyance, "We are helping them despite all that happened! "

"Gatou's oppression of Wave Country has resulted in many terrible things. It's been hard on a lot of people, Inari included." Ben shrugged "People react in many different ways to traumatic events, Few rise above it. Emerging even stronger. Trying to pull others down into misery with them is fairly common. Misery loves company and all that."

"Hmm...That's quite understandable. " Kakashi nodded, quite surprised to hear such worldly answer coming from Ben, he added with a bit curiosity "What do you plan on doing here Tennyson-kun? "

"I haven't thought much about that yet, Hatake-san. I guess I would like to keep helping people like I am doing now. " Ben replied as a matter of fact.

"Without asking for anything in return?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Well, as you can see these people don't have much money. And they had to sacrifice a lot in order to pay for even a low ranked mission." Ben let out a sigh, "I guess I am helping them because they are being bullied by this rich and powerful tyrant. If there is something out there I can't stand, it's bullies."

"Admirable." Kakashi nodded, "However I don't know whether you are aware of this or not, Yagura, The leader of hidden mist village has managed to convince the ninjas of his village that bloodline holders are true demons in human form. If a bloodline user is found within the land of water, they would be ruthlessly slaughtered. It doesn't matter whether they are ninjas or civilians, infants or elderly, man or women. The hunter ninjas are always patrolling these lands, There is a possibility you might run into them sooner or later if you decided to stick around."

"That can be troublesome. I am not someone who backs down from a fight but I don't want the people here to get involved in some bloody mess for my sake." Ben replied in a serious tone, "Guess that means, I have to leave this place once Gatou is dealt with."

"Well, there are certain ways to deal with that issue. But we will get to that sometime later in the future " Kakashi replied with a knowing a smile as he took out a small pocketbook behind his waist and threw it towards Ben, " Sakura, you have proved to be quite adept at the chakra control exercise so you can go with Ben and help Tazuna-san with his bridge. At the same time you will try to teach him about the basics as much as you can, including the hand signs and three basic jutsus to him. Ben, it's your job to learn the contents of this book within next ten days. It's about the most common things a person should know before becoming a genin. Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto should be working on their chakra control till they can get it right." The silver haired jonin concluded , pointing towards Uchiha and the Uzumaki. He was dealing with the burnout from using a soldier pill and the sharingan at the same time. Even though he looked okay from the outside, he knew it was better for him to conserve his strength and recover until the right time arrived.

Both rivals glared at each other in unison and immediately began another tense session of tree climbing.

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxx...

Sakura found herself in the middle of construction area alongside Ben. The moment they arrived there, Ben immediately split into thirty look alikes and started working on the construction site. The pinkette was quite surprised to learn that it wasn't a jutsu but one of Ben's bloodline limit abilities. Which she found to be quite amazing. Although not on level of Sasuke , Ben was really cool. She took the liberty of teaching Ben about the basic hand signs and they even talked about her life back at Konoha. The young plumber was quite surprised as he never expected her to turn out to be a polite and overall nice girl, if only a little naive sometimes. Granted, her obsession with that kid Sasuke was a bit annoying and her attitude towards Naruto wasn't the best in the world but other than that, She was just like any other girl around that age he had seen.

Sakura, for her part was also pleased with Ben. She knew that he was quite strong and despite going through a lot in his life, he was actually sociable unlike the Uchiha heir and took the time to listen to what she had to say. She half expected someone like him to be professional and unapproachable but that wasn't the case.

After patrolling the bridge for a while Sakura took a seat while Ben started reading the small book Kakashi gave to him. It turned out to be in japanese as he half expected because that was the language people spoke around here. He didn't have much issue with the language barrier as he didn't have to worry about the speaking and listening part thanks to the Universal translator. Besides as someone who spend four torturesome years in high school in order to learn the language, he didn't have much issue with reading and writing either.

"Hey, what is she doing here? I thought either the blond gaki or the one with attitude was going to be here." Tazuna expressed his disappointment as he stopped near the duo, placing the heavy looking metal bar on the ground.

"She is doing her job, old man! And those two are busy with their training." Ben responded.

"Since I was the best at the exercise, Kakashi-sensei decided to send me here to guard you." Sakura nodded with a smug smile.

Tazuna was tempted to snort in disbelief but decided not to. Even though he didn't think much of Sakura, he held Ben in highest regards. The kid was tough and could handle anything Gatou or that funny ninja decided to throw at them.

"Hey Tazuna!"

Ben and Tazuna turned to see one of the workers coming over to the old bridge builder. A man wearing an outfit similar to Tazuna's who was bald and looked around the same age as the bridge builder himself was.

"Hn?" Tazuna scratched his ear as he looked over at the man, "What is it Giichi?"

Giichi looked at Tazuna with a small frown, "I've been doing a lot of thinking recently and, I'm thinking about stopping my work on the bridge."

"What!" Tazuna yelled in surprise, "This is so sudden! Why would you do this!"

"Tazuna, we've been close friends for a long time now," Giichi started, and Ben sensed a 'but' coming. " I want to help you, but if we continue this work Gato will notice us. And let's face the reality! Ben is just a kid. He can't keep fighting Gatou's man forever. Especially when Gatou has now started hiring ninjas "

Ben walked over to the two of them with a small frown, he did not like this man's cowardice.

"We should quit building this bridge while we're ahead," The man continued on, trying to impress the reasons he wanted to quit upon his friend.

"We can't do that," Ben let out a chuckle, the young warrior placed a hand on his construction helmet and tilted it down as he looked at the man. " This bridge is your bridge. This is the bridge your people started building together believing it would bring trade and resources to this otherwise ruined land. It's a lot more than some lifeless structure, it's a chance for this town to learn how to live with dignity once again. "

The man looked at him imploringly, "But we have already pushed our luck far enough-! Sooner or later Gatou's men will show up and start killing..."

"It's already noon, let's stop for today," Tazuna interrupted Giichi before he can spoil the mood any further , turning around and leaving the man before he stopped and spoke without looking back, " Giichi, if you continue to be scared of Gatou...despite everything we had accomplished so far, You don't have to come back tomorrow."

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...

"Sorry! " Ben yelled as he dodged a rock sent in his way. He didn't get much time to breath as another made its way to him. "It won't happen again! " He apologized once again as he dodged several dozen once again, "Dammit!"

The Jutsus or the mystical artes Ninjas used were a lot more different then magic back home. He could recall hearing something like Horiki back at Hex's seminar at Friendkin university. Fantastical powers said to be gained in esoteric Japanese Mikkyo Buddhism through intense meditation to become in tune with one's buddhahood. It was hard to make something out that reformed Criminal/Professor's words but finally after seeing Ninjas of this dimension, He could make a couple of things out of that.

For instance, The hand signs were a reference to chinese zodiac. Monkey, Ox, Dragon, Snake, Rabbit etc. Each of them had their different uses and combining them allowed Ninjas to do various astonishing feats. As long as they can control their Catra , Chikara or whatever it was called here.

Ben was doing good as long as climbing trees or walking on the lake was concerned, He got tired eventually but hey, he tried his level best and while not on level of Naruto, he still had some really good stamina and of course Kakashi didn't forget to taken into consideration that he worked at a construction site for more than six hours. Today , he was introduced to hand signs and well... that seemed pretty much okay-ish for learn.

Now Tiger was kinda easy, Both thumbs straight up while the fingers of both hands intervened. Boar required some good wrist flexibility, conjoining both of them backwards. Snake meant conjoining both hands' fingers with each other leaving left thumb out. Ox meant combining both of your hands while keeping one horizontal and one vertical. Dog meant forming a fist using your right hand and keeping other hand flat over it. Bird overall seemed a slight variation of Tiger, With difficult angles between thumb and fingertips. They seemed easier in theory. Doable in practical but when it really came to practice the jutsu against a moving object,

However timing turned out to be a horrible issue. It had been five long days with long tiring sessions of constant practice but towards no avail, Ben just couldn't seem to get the timing right .

Kakashi let out a suffering sigh. He decided to train Ben in basic skills to better prepare him against fighting Zabuza's Apprentice. There were multiple reasons behind it, First was Ben having a better chance against the Swordsman due to his animalistic transformation, Which had physical strength and agility surpassing an adult Inuzuka. Second the boy could prove out to be an invaluable asset to Konoha if he could convince him to join. Kakashi didn't even know all of his abilities but from what he saw, He could easily see him becoming an S rank ninja with certain amounts of training. Kyuubi attack, Uchiha clan slaughter and Orochimaru's defection left Konoha weakened. Tsunade Senju had been unavailable from a very long time and Lord Hokage was getting old. With his ideals, abilities and impressive chakra control, Ben was bound to become a force someday who could scare away Kages and Jinchurikis, If he was given a right direction.

Ben had nailed all three basic jutsu within the first couple of hours. What happened next was a little strange, to him anyways. The reason behind substitution was pretty simple, It was a practical version of **Body Flicker Jutsu**. Despite what civilians believed in, Substitution was not a space time ninjutsu. The Jutsu's main objective was to was used to enhance one's perception, to properly find an object and replace yourself with it. The point was that, Ben's mind was used such significantly higher level of speeds thanks to his transformations like **Xlr8, Fasttrack, Jetray and Ultimate Echo Echo**. When the jutsu increased his perception, It wasn't fast enough for him to quickly pick a log and get done with it. With a puff of smoke, the log fell to the ground where Ben once stood, the rock falling on it after a second

Kakashi hummed in thought, "Good…but you're a little bit early. It's best if you wait until whatever is coming at you to be a second away, if it's a jutsu especially. That way, your opponent won't have time to cancel their attack and start looking for you. Also you dropped a few leaves in process! "

"This is frustrating! " Ben huffed in annoyance, "Why do I have to stick leaves on my head and climb trees while doing this Jutsu thingy? "

"It appears that your teacher worked a lot on endurance , stamina and expanding your chakra reserves but somehow you got left behind on focus and concentration part. You also seem aware of the technique behind water walking exercise but unless you improve upon the areas you currently lack in, that isn't going to help you much. My sensei always used to tell me "Unless you can fight on a vertical surface for an hour like you can do on a horizontal surface, you need to continue working on refining your control" " Kakashi replied as a matter of fact. Ben narrowed down his eyes in frustration as Kakashi lobed more projectiles at him. This time Ben waited for a significant time, All while making sure the leaves didn't fell from his forehead. He let the enhanced senses do their work and finally switched himself at the right moment. Magical Swapping was a good thing but he needed to work on it to become his second nature. Who knows it could save his life someday. Victoriously grinning he reappeared on another corner, Completely forgetting the fact that he was standing uptight on the vertical surface of the tree.

"Uh-huh!" Ben blinked as his fall prey to the gravitational force for fourth time in a single day, however he managed to skillfully land on the ground by skillfully performing a backflip. After all he had been an accomplished athlete even from a very young age. Performing such feats wasn't a big deal for him. However it wasn't as smooth as he had initially imagined once he felt his hand getting slightly bruised. He blinked at reading the title of orange colored book on Kakashi's hands, "Make Out Paradise! "

Ben facepalmed at hearing that. Was that some sort of graphic erotic novel? It seemed so. But something like that existing in magical ninja world was quite surprising. Taking a long breath he laced his fingers together and turned his palms to face outward in front of him. Reaching his arms as far as he can, curving his back and shoulders forward. After Holding for about 10 seconds he released his fingers, and grabbed his wrists behind his back. Raising his arms as high as he could behind his back, He tried to stay in this position without releasing his hands which resulted in his chest opening and shoulders rolling back. Repeating this process until he started to feel pain, He jumped back on his feet.

"The Cat camel stretch, I suppose! " Kakashi enquired, Finally putting his book down. After having the world's most formidable Taijutsu master as your rival, You are bound to pick up one or two things.

"Doesn't hurt to stay in shape, I guess" Ben chuckled . He looked around, It had been a couple of hours since Ben arrived back from work and the training was still on for the hero and the ninja. "So any ideas about how we move forward from here?" He added with a raised eyebrow

"It's pretty obvious that strength is not an issue. Stamina and reflexes is the part where you truly excel and this practise would improve both your timing with Substitution and get used to forming seals during an ongoing battle at the same time. I don't know much about your skill with dispelling and recognizing illusions but we will save it for the last. While I am still going to teach you about **Transformation** and **Standard Clone Jutsu** as they can prove to be quite useful depending on the situation, I don't think it's possible for you to get enough mastery over them in order to use them in a fight , especially in the short duration of time" Kakashi informed Ben, causing the young hero to raise an eyebrow, "However considering your other abilities and the surroundings of this island, This technique can prove to be quite helpful. I am going to teach you the jutsu Zabuza used against us. The **Water Clone Jutsu**."

"Umm...Alright? But didn't you just copy that using your special eye when we fought him last time?" Ben dumbfounded.

"Not really. Contrary to what Zabuza believes, I had known the technique for more than a decade and I also learned a lot about how elemental clones works from my own teacher. First of all let me differentiate between a standard clone and a corporal clone. A standard clone creates an intangible copy of one's own body, without any substance. Since the clone itself doesn't have the ability to attack, and thus can only be used to confuse the enemy, it is mainly used in combination with other attacks. But what we are talking about today is called corporal clones, which means giving your duplicates form and substance by channeling your chakra through some medium, in this case water." Kakashi responded in a casual tone, inhaled deeply and crossed his fingers.

Just like what happened during their encounter with Zabuza, from the nearby lake a column of water rose up to Kakashi's level and morphed into an identical copy of the Konoha Jonin.

"In the initial stages, you need to use a water source to create one or more duplicates of yourself. You gotta remember though, Your duplicates are fully capable of functioning in battle and acting on their own , They can interact with the surroundings and will do whatever you want them to do. On the downside, they only possess one-tenth of the user's power and cannot go too far from you. However, someone with complete mastery of this technique... can create clones with up to forty five percent of his/her original power and without the need of a water source being near. " Kakashi explained to the young hero

"It sounds useful." Ben replied with a grateful nod, " Thanks for the help, Hatake-san!"

"It's alright Ben-kun. Besides your part in this mission as much essential as my genins, probably even more." Kakashi replied with a nonchalant smile, "Now come on, I am hungry."

Ben still wanted to hang around and practise this new ability Kakashi had just shown him but the jonin's tone indicated that he was having none of it. With no room for argument left, He followed the leaf ninja back to Tazuna's home.

...xxxxxx...xxxxxxxxxx...


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner was largely an uneventful affair. Ben sat away from the table while Kakashi took his food on the couch (He was still reading porn much to Tsunami's displeasure). The genins and Tazuna's family all took seats at the table. Everyone got a couple of good helpings though, because both Naruto and Sasuke seemed completely famished with their ...tree climbing and they were shoving food down their throats as if there was no tomorrow. He just hoped they didn't fell sick from stuffing so much food inside their stomach.

Everything was going well until Sakura mentioned the picture hanging from the wall. In this picture, one could see Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari and another figure, although the last one's face had been torn. Sakura noticed that, unlike the Inari she knew, the Inari of the picture looked really happy, flashing a toothy grin as the torn man was ruffled his hair.

The mood instantly darkened. Tsunami stopped cleaning and Tazuna looked at the table, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze. Inari immediately stood up and left the room. As Tazuna and Tsunami seemed a little bit too emotional for the time being, it was upto Ben to let the team of shinobis the story behind the man whose face was torn apart from that picture.

The man in the picture happened to be a fisherman by the name of Kaiza. One day, three kids were ganging up on Inari and his dog Poochi. The leader of the gang claimed Poochi for himself, and decided to torture the young boy even more by throwing the dog to the sea. Obviously, Inari couldn't swim very well at the mere age of 6. His fear got better of him and he momentarily froze right there and then. Suddenly one of the bullies kicked him to the water as well. Panicking, Inari tried to swim but the water was too deep for him and he rapidly started running out of breath. In addition to all that, his dog Poochi managed to make its way to the shore all by himself without any sort of difficulty whatsoever and ran away with the bullies behind his tail.

Inari's lungs started to become filled with water and he lost consciousness , but before anything worse could happen he was saved by none other than Kaiza.

One day, a flood was endangering this small town and the people who lived in it. The river's gate had been opened by the force of the waves, and the only way to stop them was to swim across the crazy river and reach the other side with a rope so the gates could be closed. Kaiza . Despite the huge risk and the fact that no else volunteered, Kaiza agreed to do it in a heartbeat . Managing to defy all odds without worrying for his life for a single moment, the brave fisherman reached the other side of the river. Using a rope, the villagers were able to close the gates and save the town. From that night, Kaiza became a hero not only in Inari's eyes, but for everyone.

Kaiza taught Inari to defend what was precious to him with both his arms even if he had to put his life at risk. Kakashi instantly figured out why Kaiza had been such an inspiration to everybody. For anyone out there in this world , to protect something with so much determination and ferocity would certainly be a sight to behold. After all that was what his beloved teacher, Minato Namikaze believed in.

Since that day, Inari and Kaiza became inseparable, Inari who had grown without a father at his side for all these years now had a role model and a fatherly figure. Apparently, Kaiza also never happened to had a son before and Inari was everything he could've ever hoped for as a son. It was only a matter of time before Kaiza eventually became a part of this household , with Inari as his son and Tsunami as his wife.

However, the family's joy was not to last long. The shrewd business magnet called Gatou came to the land two weeks later and took over everything in the small island his greedy little hands could gather. Kaiza, being the people's champion that he was, was considered and obstacle to Gatou. His thugs got a hold of him and proceeded to beat him senseless before sentence him to die in a public execution. People were shocked and wanted to protest, but without their hero, what could they do? Kaiza was killed by Gatou's bodyguards and everyone saw it, Inari included. The little boy changed, all hope lost to him. If his father couldn't stand up to Gatou, who could? He grew bitter and never laughed anymore. Because no matter what he did, it was all too clear to him that Gatou was invincible. He lost hope, and so did the villagers.

But Tazuna decided to brighten the mood by bringing up Ben's efforts and how he had stood against Gatou and defeated his men numerous times. Inari was a lot better than he used to be and now believed in heroes once again. He even cracked a smile every now and then, which was a major improvement. People were still afraid of Gatou but after a very long time since he started building this bridge, a small but increasing number of workers had began working alongside him.

In the end, It left Naruto even more fired up and he immediately left for training. Declaring that sooner or later he was going to prove that he was as much not if more awesome than Ben. Sasuke followed the course as well considering that he didn't want to be left behind by the dead last of all people

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

Ben awoke and noticed it was still dark outside. He tirelessly tried to fall asleep considering it was his day off and which meant he could get a few extra hours of sleep. However all of his attempts turned out to be horrible failures. Letting out a groan , he decided to wake up. He hated waking up early but in this world without videogames, internet, television and smartphones , he felt like he had now seriously taken up to become some sort of taoist monk.

Stretching his limbs following behind a popping sound, He exited his room and headed outside the door. Deciding that he might as well work out a bit and get familiar with the jutsu thingys considering he didn't have much to do and he was up this early. After arriving at the clearing team 7 was practising their tree climbing yesterday,

Ultimate Ditto

The moment young plumber uttered those words, a bright green flash engulfed the area and once it died, four look alikes of Ben appeared in his place. All three of them nodded at each other. While both of them took a fighting pose, the third one picked up the small green book Kakashi gave to him yesterday and carefully sat around in a corner. The last one just rolled over the ground and started performing push ups.

Without wasting any further moment, Ben jumped on the top of a tree, setting himself in some sort of battle stance as he signaled his copies to come at him. The duo slammed a vicious elbow into his gut, momentarily disorienting him. The quickly grabbed onto his right hand and attempted to disable him using a joint lock. However they didn't expect Ben to switch his dominant leg and slam his knees on their face by performing a backflip. One of them was a bit too quick for Ben as it retaliated with a roundhouse kick, not bothering to dodge it Ben made a familiar hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Making the duplicate hit nothing but wooden log.

Using his already increased momentum, Ben channeled chakra through his feet and land a hard punch on the duplicate's face, sending him flying away. Before he could enjoy his short lived victory, a pair of knuckles came from sideways and smacked him on the ground. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Ben rubbed his bruised head and quickly managed to climb back to his original place. The duplicate managed to duck Ben's attack and attempted to sweep Ben's right leg. Ben jumped back on another branch and charged towards it with a flying four hit combo while using both of his hands. His duplicate managed to dodge most of his attacks and striked back with a spinning wheel kick only for Ben to lower his head at the right moment. The duplicate grunted in pain as Ben aimed for his thigh with a nasty low kick. He was about to go for a knee but before he could do that, a pair of hands grabbed him from the down below and smacked his head against the tree trunk. The duplicate he punched moments ago had finally managed to get back on his feet.

Seizing an opportunity, he punched Ben both in his stomach and near his collarbone . Feeling lucky the duplicate went for another hit, only for Ben to be replaced with a wooden log.

"You really didn't think it was going to be this easy, did you?" Both duplicates blinked in confusion at hearing the familiar voice, they immediately turned around, only to see a smiling Ben standing over the surface of nearby lake. Staring at each other for a few moments, both of them followed the course and landed on the water. However their footing still needed some work as one of them ended up dropping his ankle in the water while another one tripped his legs during the take of and ended up getting submerged inside the water with the grace of a heavy rock. The duplicate paid dearly for their mistake as Ben delivered a vicious cross arm chop on his neck causing to lose his footing and fall face first inside the water. Another one emerged within underwater but he was a moment too late as Ben immediately had him facedown in the water, with both of his hands pulled back and a knee plastered on his neck.

This went on for a couple of moments, dodging, punching, kicking, substitution, hack one of them even pulled a full fledged Water Clone on him to knock him out. Since all three of them were reflections of the same person, they weren't much different from each other. They shared equal amount of strength, stamina and shared the same skill set. Even though he was aware about the moves they could pull off, towards his credit the unpredictability on their part kept him guessing. Without either of them noticing, his little sparring match with well...himself went on for more than an hour. He nearly kept going till his face and clothes were completely soaked due to sweat and he had trouble moving due to pain and fatigue he experienced. Blood, bruises and scratches were all over his body , yet Ben was satisfied. He had truly started to overcome the confines of his human body like his instructor Rook once told him to do.

After taking a few moments to catch their breath, all copies jumped on the single unharmed clone, whose dial now showed the transformation Wildvine and eventually merged into one. Absorbing the duplicate meant taking his memories, Physical trauma, Stress, Injuries etc. Easier said than done. He could have dispersed it with the help of his Ultimatrix dial and save himself from the process but then again what sort of superhero are you if you can't handle pain?

Regeneration process kicked in but so did the injuries and exhaustion. In addition to all that, the overload of information nearly scrambled his entire system. Ben took a long breath, Reminding himself that the pain was temporary soon he will be back to his fullest capacity.

As long as he managed to find a few aspirines!

...xxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxx...

Needless to say, Ben was exhausted both mentally and physically. He had been going non stop since he woke up and he was now _beat_! He entered Tazuna's home after taking a long and nice dip inside the lake in order to get the stench off him. He didn't want to reek like a hippo on such a humid day!

As he entered the hall, he ran into a yawning Sakura and always brooding Sasuke. Tsunami was serving a special herb tea to Kakashi which grew inside the forest, The copy nin accepted it with a grateful eye smile. Thoughtful as ever, She poured some for Ben as well.

"Morning everyone!" Ben greeted, Following the Asian customs as far as he could.

"Good morning, Ben-san! " Sakura greeted politely, Stretching her arms with a yawn. Ben didn't blame her, It was really that early. If he wasn't suffering from hyperactivity, He would have slept in too.

"Where is Naruto?" Ben said suddenly, looking around puzzled.

"He is not here" Tazuna replied, " Apparently he was outside all night practicing that tree climbing stuff."

Sakura sighed, "He's always doing stupid stuff like that. He's probably passed out due to chakra exhaustion."

"Are you sure he will be alright? " Tsunami spoke out with concern, " I don't like the idea of a kid spending the night on his own like that. Especially when Gato's men are patrolling outside!"

"Naruto will be fine," Kakashi said reassuringly. "Although he may not look it, he is a decent ninja." The jonin knew pretty well that Naruto had so much chakra inside of him that it was rather frightening and he wasn't even taking his tenant in consideration yet. Naruto suffering from chakra exhaustion, Nah, not a chance.

Surprisingly enough, the raven haired kid raised his voice, " Tch! Sakura has a point. The dobe is such a loser, he is probably dead somewhere."

"Oh come on dude! Do you mind not being a jerk right now? It's early in the morning." Ben retorted dryly, his ears were apparently still ringing from the spar before, he just wanted to have his breakfast in peace. He would rather go and challenge Zabuza and his assistant for round 2 than hearing the Uchiha's sarcastic and cold monosyllabic comments.

Surprisingly, The Uchiha heir just stood up in response and left the kitchen without saying anything, "Sasuke-kun, where are you going?"

"For a walk." He replied simply, leaving everyone to their thoughts.

Kakashi narrowed down his eyes. He was really sure that Sasuke was going for a walk. But the walk happened to be for finding his blonde teammate.

He knew that the dark haired avenger had trouble expressing his emotions probably due to his tragic background and he tended to be rather antagonistic towards Naruto. He most likely found his team mates annoying but at the same time he had began to care about them. Albeit in his own emo-ish way

"But we just started eating." Sakura protested, however towards her utmost surprise when she looked at Sasuke's plate, It was nearly empty except small bits of uneaten food. _"That was fast."_ The pinkette said to herself.

Soon everyone finished their breakfast. Upon Tsunami's insistence Ben decided to join Kakashi and Sakura on their search for Naruto, considering the fact that he was a lot more familiar with the surroundings than anyone else. They tried shouting his name for next fifteen minutes to no avail. However Ben reassured them, suggesting that Naruto was nearby.

"Are you sure? The baka could be anywhere and Sasuke-kun hasn't come back either, I am really starting to get worried." Sakura spoke out agitatedly, expressing her frustration and worries about the situation.

"And I am telling you, both of them are right here." Ben shrugged nonchalantly, The moment he finished his sentence, A kunai which was clearly thrown from above buried itself near the ground. Everyone gulped and looked up only to see the figure of Naruto , who was sitting on a branch of a tree.

Kakashi was honestly surprised, "He can actually go that far up using his chakra. Amazing! He must have worked hard."

"What do you guys think? High enough for you? It's a long way down, isn't it?" Naruto said with a mischievous smile as he stood up and backtracked his steps, now hanging upside down from the branch.

"I am starting to get the hang...AARGH!..." Naruto began with a smug smile but before he could finish his statement , his feet got blasted away from the surface. The Uzumaki looked terrified but just as he was about to fall, Sasuke seemingly appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the orange clad ninja by his ankles, only for him to disperse in a cloud of smoke.

"A shadow clone!" Sasuke's eyes widened in realization.

"Geez! I can't believe you actually fell for it!" A voice came from behind, revealing the real Naruto who was standing on another branch of the same tree, playfully sticking out his tongue towards them.

"You scared the shit out of us Baka!" Sakura yelled in outrage, completely terrified with the stunt Naruto pulled back there. She was about to have a heart attack!

"Good catch, Teme!"

"Shut it, Dobe."

"These two are going to be the death of me." Kakashi let out a miserable sigh, while Ben just chuckled in response.

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...

It was really shaping up to be a stressful evening.

Stuffing both hands deep into his pockets, Ben shuddered.

There was a nip in the air that felt almost unnatural – a cold wind steadily rising as time went on, in sharp, sudden bursts it would seem. The rain clouds looming overhead with the promise of a downpour did not help. Ben let out a groan, Shitty weather was the last thing he had to worry about right now. The air reeked with depression and atmosphere had taken a very grimm appearance. The Ultimatrix bearer was pretty much used to all this, However that didn't mean he had to like it.

Ben held a very high opinion of Tazuna, Regardless of what Naruto or others thought. He had his priorities set straight, He had to give him that much. Most men would break under that kind of pressure. Most men would crack or bow down to this grim and hopeless situation – that much was obvious, given the recent decrease in able men working on the bridge – but not their employer.

Ben narrowed down his eyes at his vastly experienced opponent. He dashed towards Kakashi while enhancing his speed using chakra, Immediately dashing forward to deliver a right hook straight to Kakashi's face. Kakashi quickly avoided the attack, simply tilting his head back to dodge the blow. He grumbled under his breath before sending a low kick that Kakashi expertly blocked .

Nearly a couple of years ago, It had taken a few days for Ben to finally believe his father when he told him that no one blamed him, and that his grandfather and his friends gave their life for him out of love for him, Because they believed only he could stop Maltruant and win the Time war. Only he could protect the human race from sinister Chronosapiens. He had vowed then to never act so brashly again, especially not when it had already cost him the life of his precious people. He forced himself to learn restraint and self-control. He even went so far as to convince plumbers to hire Tai Chi and Wushu instructors for him, hoping to achieve a level of internal peace and balance that would facilitate his efforts to become more level headed. Just so no one else would die due to his mistakes.

With a graceful roundhouse kick, Ben unleashed his full might on Kakashi. Using every kata he had learned throughout his life the Ultimatrix Bearer charged towards Kakashi. He then began a series of fluid and smooth movements. Kakashi praised inwardly while keeping a bored expression on his face. Ben was incredibly smart of what attacks to combo together and what attacks to send out to keep him guessing. Combining his mastery over Water walking and tree climbing exercise with all that, His speed was no joke either

 _Looks like I have to start countering_

Kakashi sidestepped a kick before immediately catching Ben's leg before sliding it down his thigh and lifting. The brown-haired combatant was quickly tossed up into the air but stabilized himself by doing a flip and landing on both of his feet.

It had been nine long days since the team 7 began with the tree climbing. By now all three genins and their teacher had gotten comfortable with Ben being around. Sakura had even gotten friendlier enough to add "kun" to his name. Naruto was pretty much treating him like they had known each other for years and the orange clad ninja more often than not reminded him about none other than Lucy Mann, his notorious prankster cousin , who always appeared to be brimming with energy. Thanks to her, there was never a dull moment around during their family gatherings. Sadly, she belonged to the first response group who were slaughtered by Maltruant's sentries. And as for Sasuke...while obviously there wasn't much communication between two of them, they somewhat bonded over their annoyance with Kakashi's lazy antics and the infamous erotica he was always reading in front of them.

Apparently, Naruto and Sasuke managed to reach the very top of their respective trees after working for endless hours. In short with in six days all three genins were equal in terms of chakra control with Sakura being a tiny bit better at tree climbing but to be honest, it seemed so close that didn't make much of a difference.

However, Kakashi didn't seem much interested in teaching them anything new, believing that the only thing they could do was to master the skills they already had. Besides in all honesty there wasn't anything he could teach them which might allow his students to match Zabuza. Instead of teaching them a new technique, he just divided their time to both learn how to walk on the surface of water and continue with the tree climbing practice.

Meanwhile Ben had now managed to learn both Transformation Jutsu and Standard Clone Jutsu, it was still debatable that whether he had gotten comfortable with them to the point of using them during an actual fight but he now knew about them, regardless. The copy nin tested his resistance against minor illusions and a standard "put me to sleep" genjutsu but Ben did pretty alright against it. Making him assume that with his chakra control he wasn't going to have much issues with breaking out from illusions. Since there wasn't anything much to do, Kakashi decided to give Ben a taste of fighting against a superior opponent. Which brought him towards their current predicament.

Ben was completely taken by surprise as Kakashi delivered a shocking punch to his side, followed up by a forceful shove to interrupt his counter. Ben recovered quickly and sprung back on his feet. Dashing towards Kakashi, he placed a hand on the ground before lifting both his feet straight into the air , Flipping 180 degree in the air, He brought forth his glowing fist into the side of Kakashi's head. It did connect, However Kakashi dispersed into a splinters of wooden log which was unfortunate enough to taste his chakra encased fist.

Ben fell on his knees, Starting to pant heavily. He had now not only running low on chakra, his clothes were also soaked with dirt and sweat.

"You are really not in shape, Ben-kun! "

The Ultimatrix bearer threw a dirty look at Kakashi who decided to make his presence known. Towards his ire, Kakashi seemed completely fine and unaffected by the tirelessly long spar they'd just had. It was fourth day in row Kakashi had managed to kick his ass without breaking a sweat and something told him even if he used his transformations like Blitzwolfer , Wildmutt or even Swampfire that would have made much difference, as far as speed , strength and reflexes were concerned.

The Jonin was actually impressed with Ben, Even though he didn't outrightly declared it. His glowing fist, Which he used to call "Stone Cutter" was really nasty. It was like a miniature horse ready to kick you with its hind-legs. Who knew a teenager with very limited knowledge on Chakra could perform a variation of Legendary Tsunade Senju's super strength. Agreed, It was still imperfect but Ben was doing pretty much good on his own. Kakashi shook his head as a storm was brewing inside of him

" _Calm down Kakashi. You have stumbled upon someone who has the potential to be the greatest military asset to ever exist in elemental nations. With his chakra control, transformations with monstrous strength and various abilities that I don't even know yet, He is a gold mine hunter nin, medic nin, Taijutsu and Genjutsu prospect. Big deal, it's cool… no need to get all fired up and start raving about it. You'll swell the kid's head. Besides I gotta let Lord Hokage in first. "_ Kakashi had to fight the urge to begin frothing at the mouth and running back to Konoha to brag about stumbling upon such rare gem just like that.

"Are you going to be alright, Ben?" Tsunami asked with obvious worry.

Ben slowly stood up, Finally gathering enough air to respond verbally. "I am fine Tsunami-san. All I need is a bath and some food, That's all. "

Tsunami didn't look completely convinced, But nodded anyways as Ben went inside. She was obviously feeling guilty to see Ben punishing himself like that just for their sake. In her eyes he was a child too but people tended to ignore it just because he had a few special abilities. It felt bad that how a child was forced to carry the burden of protecting the bridge and their family like this.

Kakashi chuckled, Knowing very well what was going on. " Don't worry Tsunami-san. He is a tough kid, He can take it. Besides he is too much stubborn to let himself be pampered by anyone like that."

"I should go preparing dinner then." Tsunami nodded and she quickly went inside

...xxxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...

After an hour or so , Sasuke and Naruto bolted inside the house. Even though both of them were dripping wet and heavily sneezing, one of them was smirking with pride while another was grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"We did it! We managed to walk on the stupid lake for more than an hour." Naruto declared with a pride.

"Hn!" Sasuke acknowledged with a silent nod, his mouth already stuffed with food.

"Good! Starting tomorrow both of you are bodyguards of Tazuna." Kakashi responded with an affirmative shook of his head. He didn't expect both of them to actually manage to learn that but after working hard on tree climbing, water walking wasn't that much difficult. It just required a bit more concentration and ability to strike the perfect balance. Even then, their efforts were absolutely worth his praise.

After having a well deserved meal, Team 7, Tazuna and Ben started discussing the final details of this mission. There was no point in dragging the construction any longer as it provided Gatou with more opportunity to harm them by hiring more ninjas. Much to everyone's approval, It was decided that both Ben and Naruto should use their ability to create duplicates in order to make everything faster. Another was to raid Gatou's safehouses, scare away his goons and use a part of money they were going to find to both pay Konoha for an A rank mission and restore Wave's economy. Last but not the least, what Ben could do next in order to avoid the watchful eyes of bloodthirsty Mizukage. Kakashi suggested that he should go with them, with Naruto excitedly mentioning about his favorite Ramen place eleventh time in a day but the brown haired hero said that he was going to think about it once Gatou and Zabuza are out of the picture.

"I don't see why are you even bothering to work with these lousy ninjas. They are nowhere near strong enough to fight against Gatou." Inari released a frustrated sigh, making his appearance known.

"I don't think they are weak, Inari. From where I see they are pretty strong on their own. Besides everyone starts out at some point, even I was a clumsy bumbling idiot when I got this powers." Ben remarked in a calm and composed tone.

"But..you can transform into all these creatures." Inari spoke out in disbelief

"May be...but in the end they are just an outlet of my strength." Ben explained in a sincere tone, " If I didn't work my ass off back in those days, I wouldn't have turned out to be half as good of a fighter I currently am."

Kakashi nodded in silent agreement. No one in the history of the greatest shinobis were strong to begin with . Even the legends like Minato Namikaze and Hashirama Senju had to start somewhere.

"Still only strong guys like you can beat strong guys like Gatoh." Inari frowned, still holding onto his previous beliefs.

Ben was about to speak again but he was rudely interrupted by Naruto, who smacked his hands on the table

"Don't do it Ben, That's exactly what he wants. for you to fall for his whole "woe is me" stuff."

"Don't say it so easily!" Inari snapped, tears starting appear in his eyes, "All this training and talk is just a waste of time. All these words of encouragement, they don't mean anything! It's always the same, the strong survives and the weak loses! "

"Speak for yourself, It won't be like that for me, got that?" Naruto muttered dryly, he felt really sorry for the boy but listening him crying and protesting every five minutes was just plain annoying. He was starting to lose patience, if he had any.

"Why don't you stay quiet? Just looking at you makes me sick. You are always laughing and playing around, You don't have any idea what does it feels to suffer and to be treated like dirt. You don't even know how it feels to lose someone. Big brother is the only one who knows and he is the only one who cares. Only someone powerful like him can defeat Gatou!"

"Listen to yourself, bitching and moaning about your life, Thinking you have got it so hard!" Naruto voice was soft, akin to an almost unnoticeable whisper. Yet, it didn't have any trouble conveying the message across the entire room, It was filled with so much rage and anger that even sent shivers running through Ben's spine. Making him realize that he was sitting across a child soldier who was trained to combat and kill.

"You sit here in this house with your loving family, with a mom who cooks for you, worries for you and loves you most in this world. You have a grandfather who is building a bridge so you and your country can be free of Gatou's reign. You have a friend who is willing to stand against a tyrant and risk his life without asking anything in return. " Naruto snorted at the boy in disgust, "What a hard life! Oh my Tou-san died, boo hoo. It's pathetic! You can drawn in your tears for all I care ; You are nothing but a wimp."

"Naruto, you went too far!" Sakura shouted. Naruto didn't even bother to respond as he stood up and left the kitchen.

Inari has been shaking in both fury and sadness. No one, no one had been so much direct and harsh with him. The blonde ninja had basically slapped him on the face with the full force of reality making him feel smaller than ever. Not knowing what to do, he sniffled several times before he too ran out of the door.

"Well, the kid must have struck a nerve." Ben let out a sigh, he added with a raised eyebrow, "I know that the brat gets a bit annoying with his all resistance is futile speech but I never expected Naruto to have such strong reaction to that."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked quietly, The leaf jonin didn't respond right away but when he did, it wasn't something his students wanted to hear.

"You two should go and rest. Something tells me, we have long day ahead of us tomorrow. " Kakashi spoke out in a firm tone, indicating that he didn't want to have any arguments in regards to this matter. Heaving a sigh, the leaf jonin stood and headed out from the door that Inari had disappeared off, quickly followed by Ben.

"You shouldn't blame blame Naruto-kun for what he did." Kakashi said, getting straight to the point once both of them were outside. "Besides I somewhat agree with what he said, your attempts of cheering up Inari is nothing but a futile effort and waste of your time."

"You can't blame me for going easy on the kid, he lost his father of all people." Ben let out a sigh, "He may be annoying as hell but being so much mean to him is not the right thing to do. However I don't blame Naruto, He is a kid himself and it's hard to keep emotions in check around that age." He added in a casual tone.

"Well, you are the one to talk. Aren't you around the same age as my cute little genins?" Kakashi chuckled.

"I am a "special" case" Ben grumbled, Not really happy about the dimension hopping deaging crap. Which was definitely a sore spot considering how thanks to that Ben ended up losing a few key aliens he had before. Such as Alien X, Atomix and Clockwork

"To be honest, Naruto probably understands what Inari's pain better than anyone. So do I and even Sasuke towards a certain extent " The ultimatrix bearer gave Kakashi a startled look which the copy nin pretended not to notice.

Kakashi patted on Ben's shoulders, his only visible eye taking a shadowed look, " My father was known as the White Fang of Konoha. When I was still a young boy, he committed suicide and left me all alone. Sasuke's entire clan was murdered by his brother in a single night! And Naruto...well he has also had...a less than stellar life. He lost both of his parents before he could even talk much less walk. " Kakashi stared off at the stars in the night sky, gathering his thoughts about the blonde loner and his late sensei, " Naruto-kun is despised by most citizens of our village. Even when he was barely old enough to walk, the people of the village would beat him to the point of unconsciousness. No one would let him even shop in the stores. He had to get everything he owned from third-hand shops who overcharged him even the leader of our village , myself, a ramen shop owner father-daughter duo and his academy instructor who he only bonded with recently, he hasn't made any connection, most noticeably with kids around his age. Apart from his team of course but as you can see that doesn't help much. "

"That's really strange! He doesn't seem like someone who should have a hard time making friends. " Ben blinked in confusion.

"So why is he the way he is?" The hero asked, "Why isn't he…" He trailed off, clearly not able to bring himself to put the word in this sentence.

"A _crybaby_ like Inari?" Kakashi finished, making the young plumber wince. "Well, I imagine that at one point he was. I remember, there were times when Lord Hokage pass him on the street and he looked like a kicked puppy. Sometimes he would just hide in an alley and break down. But I suppose over time he got tired of it and decided to fight back by just hold his head high and _face everything head on_ " Kakashi smiled. Ben didn't know how Kakashi came to know all this , but he didn't seem like someone who would lie. "Naruto just said 'enough' and quit crying. I wouldn't doubt that he hasn't shed a single tear since. On the way here, he got his hand sliced by an enemy's poisoned weapon, but he didn't even blink. He just took out a kunai and stabbed his own hand to let the poison bleed out."

"That's...pretty hardcore!" Ben spoke out in amusement. He knew the boy had a strong resolve and never give up attitude from the way he trained but this just took everything up to eleven. Besides, despite going through a few rough patches throughout his life, He just couldn't understand what Naruto, Sasuke or even Kakashi went through during their lives. To be honest, he never knew how being lonely felt. He always had his family, he always had friends who were willing to lay their lives on line for his sake. He couldn't help but lowering his head even further, a bread of sweat forming on his forehead as he leaned against a tree.

 _This world...it is so different from my home...at the same time it's so similar._

"I believe that Naruto sees a reflection of himself in Inari and...towards a certain extent _you._ " The jonin explained in a serious tone, "Despite of the situations in your homeland and the circumstances under you arrived, you decided that you don't have it so bad and decided to fight for these people. Even facing off and defeating two dangerous chunins like Demon Brothers. You fought against Zabuza with our team and played a crucial role in our survival that time and even now you are willing to continue on with this fight. Your actions represent what current Naruto would have loved to do about this situation, which explains why he is so enthusiastic to work with you. While with Inari it's the exact opposite."

"That all makes sense" Ben rose his head, eyes sharpening with assurance, "Why Naruto blew a fuse like that back then, what Inari said to him was the last thing he was going to take it from anyone."

"Precisely." Kakashi nodded in approval, flashing him a warm smile at his show of sympathy , " Anyways, you should take some rest. If I am not wrong, Zabuza must have started to return to full strength by now and from what I have seen of him, He isn't going to rest until he settles the score. And don't worry I will talk to Inari in your stead." The copy nin added in a serious tone.

Ben was about to protest considering that he was a lot more familiar with the kid than leaf jonin but ultimately decided not to. As someone who grew up without parents, Kakashi was more suited to talk to Inari than he ever could be and perhaps as someone who had been through similar situations, he might be able to talk some sense into the boy. Ben managed to reach the halfway but couldn't get the job done.

Who knows, The copy nin might end up succeeding where he failed.

But he wasn't concerned about that much. This chaotic lands...they were filled with strange people and strange abilities. And there was something in this dimension, which threatened the existence of his own home world. Something that Hamura didn't think he wouldn't be able to defeat in his current state. Even after he killed Maltruant, the nearly unbeatable bastard with god complex.

 _"Grampa Max..what would you have done?"_ He whispered while staring at the moon above the water. However the breeze coming in off the ocean didn't give him any answer.

...xxxxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxx...

Haku pouted and looked over in the direction that trees started to fell one by one, Causing a loud sound of something being smashed echoed throughout the Forest. Slowly she began to walk towards a man who was dressed in camouflage pants and a sleeveless grey shirt. He had spiky brown hair and the lower half of his face was covered much like Kakashi's was only with bandages, "Zabuza-sama I told you to wait until an hour. You can still make yourself worse by being up and about early like this . Go lay back down."

"Haku…" Zabuza growled in warning, "Today is the day that we're to attack. I can't go into it all stiff and rusty. This is nothing. I've been in bed for ages, I need to get readjusted with my full range of motion here. I'm sure Kakashi wasn't just sitting around licking his wounds."

"About that!" Haku spoke as she leaned back against a still surviving tree, " It wouldn't have come to this, If you had let me interfere from the beginning. Besides you were very forthright with your intentions even though it would have served us better to sneak up on them, maybe a night time assassination. You had several options where you could have succeed against them but you chose to fight with honor, Samurais fight with honor. Not shinobis. "

Zabuza growled, The girl knew him too well. Zabuza didn't like Gatou very much, Considering the fact that bastard was ideologically similar to Yagura, but he didn't have much choice in that regards. For now the resistance was laying low, Biding their time. Given the island nature of the Land of Water, the rebels either had to stay hidden on a small island, or be capable of transporting themselves back and forth quickly and stealthily, which smuggling with the Shipping Company provided them

"It was warning! " Zabuza growled as he kept a firm gaze on his companion. " But they seem so hell bent on facing me then, I am not going to back down either. I will do anything to free my land from that monster Yagura. You're far too soft for your own good Haku. You know how useful you are to me and my overall ambition. I can tell that you don't want to kill this Ben and the boy that you met earlier in the forest but remember how close we are to our ambition Haku. With this money we're closer than ever to affording the means to fund a proper rebellion."

Haku nodded, Stiffening up a bit, "Of course Zabuza-sama, There's nothing at all to worry about. I know what this mission is to us and how important it is. But Gatou doesn't seem to be a guy whose word can be trusted! "

Zabuza flinched a bit, Even he was fearing that. Gatou wasn't a trustworthy person and it really didn't seem like he wanted to pay them.

"I know Haku, That's the risk we must take... For our cause. Let me warn you Haku, Don't hold back while striking Ben Tennyson. You may not live to regret it. "

"Hai, Zabuza-sama! "

...xxxxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxxxxx...


	6. Chapter 6

"Ben-kun, Are you sure it's wise for you to go today? You trained a lot yesterday and your body might not be fully recovered." Tsunami said with obvious worry.

"I will be fine. Don't worry " The young species shifter chuckled. However if you could keep an eye on Naruto , that would be great. As usual he has pushed himself too far last night and if I am not wrong, he will probably stay asleep for a couple of hours. " He said. Tsunami still seemed a bit concerned, but nodded anyways.

Meanwhile Kakashi looked at two genins, both of them rearing to go, "Are you two ready?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted with a smirk, feeling more than ready to prove his might to everyone, especially to Naruto and towards a certain extent, Ben. With all the training he had done since he came here, he felt stronger than ever.

"Yes sensei." Sakura said, she was still quite unsure about herself, but she hoped that with someone like Ben and Sasuke around things will turn out to be alright in the end.

"Alright everyone, let's get going." Tazuna said eager to finish the bridge as soon as possible. Sakura and Sasuke jumped down at hearing that, Fully prepared to escort the bridge builder.

Kakashi lead the group with extreme caution. almost reluctantly. There was this feeling in his gut that he couldn't get rid of. From now on, the possibility of running into Zabuza and his ANBU associate was not unlikely. Kiri's Demon could be out there watching them in this very moment, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike Tazuna.

With Ben in his side and his genins in a very better shape from before, Kakashi thought ANBU associate could be handled more likely. But there was still Zabuza to consider. As far as Kakashi know Zabuza wasn't going to make this easy for him. Especially now that Zabuza had been beaten once, He was going to strike with two times the force and He will be well prepared this time. There was also the fact that Naruto was missing, and he played a very important role the first time with his clones and his enormous chakra reserves. To make things even worse, Zabuza would most likely come with his ANBU ally to aid him. Zabuza was definitely going to engage him for a little payback, meaning that it was up to Ben , Sasuke and Sakura to protect Tazuna and deal with the ANBU at the same time. And now that he thought about it, they knew nothing about the abilities of the masked boy, other than he used senbon needles for combat. With Zabuza, at least they were aware that he was very skilled with his giant sword and used water jutsus. The ANBU was pretty much an enigma.

So were Ben and his transformations. Which did make him a bit confident, However Ben wasn't a ninja. Kakashi had taught him a few tricks like Kawarimi, Water Walking and Dispelling Genjutsus but he was still as much novice as his genins were. This could go either side.

"Ok Kakashi, calm down.' The copy cat ninja said to himself all the way to the bridge. 'This is only if Zabuza decides to strike today. If he waits until a week or so, Naruto and Sasuke will even master the Water Walking . Maybe Zabuza won't go after us today, it's only a possibility. Just stay calm and keep your eyes open.'

...xxxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxx...

When they arrived to the bridge, the sight in front of him caused Kakashi to abandon all hope. Meanwhile Ben clenched his fists in outrage, He didn't like getting caught off-guard like this.

The workers were lying in the bridge, all of them severely beaten. Work tools were scattered all over the place and the wooden boxes used for package were destroyed. Ben sighed in relief, All of them were just knocked out. Unconscious but not dead. At first Ben was confused, Why would Gatou send his man to beat up the bridge workers and not outright kill them, like he usually did before Ben arrived at this place? Also it didn't make sense why hired thugs would bother killing a couple of workers and put their bodies on display. May be Gatou was trying to reinforce his authority by staging a mass execution, but then again, all these workers were still breathing. From what Ben had seen and heard, Gatou was ruthless and didn't care about anything except his wealth.

With that in mind, there was only one suspect left.

Quickly Ben pressed the symbol on his chest, An emerald glow engulfed the entire area as Ben transformed into something other than human. When it died, A werewolf like creature stood in Ben's place.

The creature had jet black fur, a long flowing mane, and a bushy tail. It also had four sharp claws on each hand. One of them served as the thumb, while the others served as the fingers. Sharp spikes perturbed out from both of his shoulders and elbows. His toenails seemed intensely sharper and it appeared that this one was more muscular and larger than the one Ben used while facing Zabuza. It was none other than Ben's hyper evolved Loboan alter ego **Ultimate Blitzwolfer**

"What…what happened here?" gasped Tazuna

"Well, It seems Mr dumpling got released from the hospital! Not only that, He also brought his secretary with him " Ben chuckled. Kakashi gave a nod, Realizing what Ben meant. Zabuza and his fake ANBU partner was here.

As they were transfixed by the violence, a large fog began rolling in. It covered everything from view. Even the ends of the bridge were hidden from sight. It was all too clear now. Ben blinked as he caught an unfamiliar scent from the mist. He clenched his fists tightly, If his memory served him well, He knew where exactly that was originating from. More likely from whom it was originating in the first place. That must be Zabuza's partner, The one who almost killed Naruto and Sasuke right under his nose.

The mist began to thicken and Kakashi narrowed his eyes, "Here they come! Defensive formation!"

Kakashi and the three genin pulled out their weapons and surrounded Tazuna, as the mist became so thick they could not see more than ten feet in front of them.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura shouted as fear began to take her again, but she quickly steeled herself, "This is…"

"Yeah, this is Zabuza's **Hidden** **Mist Jutsu** alright," Kakashi said, wearily eyeing the surroundings even thought he could not see very far.

"Here we go again! " Ben let out a groan. His super enhanced loboan senses allowing him to partially see through the mist, It wasn't in high definition but still more than enough for his enhance animalistic perception. Anur System was famous for their dark and dangerous forests. Despite that A loboan was considered an Apex predator there. While being transformed in this Ben could even fight blindfolded and win. He was no **Wildmutt** but his senses were that sharp.

"My my Kakashi, One your brats is still shaking!" The disembodied gruff voice echoed throughout the mist, Mocking the Uchiha. It was true. The last Uchiha was trembling. "How shameful." It added with a snicker

Indeed, Sasuke's hand was trembling, yet his face showed anything but cowardice. "I'm not trembling out of fear." Sasuke assured with a smirk. "I'm trembling... out of excitement."

"Big talk, but can you back that up?" Zabuza said with a mock tone as he appeared in front of them. Ben's heightened sense of perception and eyes which were completely adaptable to foggy weather like that allowed him to gauge what was going behind the curtain of mist, He felt that Zabuza was making a hand sign. Quickly a water clone emerged and charged towards Sasuke. Ben's senses were focused on Haku, She was still standing there without making any noise.

"This is a Water clone Sasuke, Coming on 9 o clock right towards you! " Ben warned, Sasuke gave a nod of acknowledgement and threw a barrage of shurikens at Zabuza look alike. With one swing of his sword, 'Zabuza' swatted the first barrage of shurikens away. Enhancing his speed and strength by using Tree walking exercise, Sasuke striked again with a devastating uppercut. Zabuza clone parried the attack by using his massive sword, The strength behind it forced the clone to stagger backwards, However not before he planted a knee on Uchiha's solar plexus, Sending him spiralling through the ground. Before he could attack further though, The monstrous werewolf appeared right in front of him. Grabbing the look a like by his shoulder, Ben tore it apart bare handed showcasing a monstrous display of strength and ferocity. Two identical halves of Water clone dropped to the bridge's surface, splashing and crashing back into its crystal blue form.

"I didn't need your help! " Sasuke huffed in annoyance as he slowly got back on his feet, Obviously irritated at Ben taking out his adversary just like that.

"Trust me, You will get a lot more chances to show off! " Ben spoke in a serious tone.

Zabuza took the chance to show himself. Though he was standing nowhere near Ben or Kakashi. Instead, He chose to appear on the opposite end of the bridge. Ben suspected he must have used **Kawarimi** to move back and forth.

"It appears that the beast had gotten even stronger. Kakashi had probably taught him a surface walking technique! " Zabuza grunted, Not really liking this new development. Ben was a dangerous foe even without knowing the usage of chakra. Now that he knew bits and pieces, He became even more deadly. "Silent killing probably won't work on him, I can't take him and Kakashi at the same time and hope to win! "

Haku blitzed back in view, She wore the same clothes from before. With the fake hunter nin mask covering her face. She spoke out in the same emotionless tone.

"I will handle him, Zabuza-sama! "

And just like that, The battle for freedom of the land of waves begun.

...xxxxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...

The sound of tea being poured could be heard by Naruto as he shuffled out of the bathroom. His eyes were still squinted as he just realized that the only thing that helped him wake up in the morning was a shower. Sadly, he couldn't just waste Tazuna's water for unnecessary showers.

It appeared that he overslept once again and he was left behind... Like always.

That was really frustrating. Can't they wait for him a bit? It wasn't like he intended that to happen. Naruto let out a sigh. At least he got tree walking done yesterday, Now he could start walking on water the way Ben did.

Yep, That was really cool

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Inari walk in.

"Uhh.. Uh.. Naruto?" Inari stammered nervously, grabbing Naruto's attention.

"Hmm?" Naruto hummed in response, quirking an eyebrow. This was actually starting to get awkward

"Uh.. I just wanted to say.. Mhmhmhhm.." Inari mumbled, bowing his head down.

"I didn't really catch that," Naruto said before he placed down his kunai and leaned forward towards Inari.

"I just wanted.. I just wanted to apologize," Inari repeated several times, keeping his head bowed, "I was being really dumb when I said those things to you."

Well that was unexpected. It didn't stop Naruto from smiling though. So Ben did smacked some sense into that boy. Ah, Only if he could do that with Sakura-chan!

He reached a hand forward to ruffle Inari's hair, devoid of any negative emotions. "No problem, Inari. I'm kinda use to it."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw Inari's lips curve into a frown.

"That's wrong. Oni-san told me people shouldn't be used to people saying mean things to them," Inari began, taking hold of Naruto's hand, "People should be kind to each other. No matter how sad they are. "

"Ben is right. It's the way they should, but that's not how the world works, sadly," Naruto chuckled, prompting Inari to slowly nod.

There was a moment of silence.

"How do you people do it? " Inari asked

"Do what? " Naruto dumbfounded, Not understanding what he meant to say.

"How do you find it in yourself to fight for others like a true hero? Even if you are barely a few years older than me" Inari began nervously, "I heard my mom and Kakashi talking once. You had a really hard life. A lot harder than mine."

Taking a long breath at first, Naruto responded with a smile, "People like me and Ben keep moving forward, Inari. We find something that motivates us and we hold it close to us."

"What motivates you?"

The answer was very obvious.

"A hero wants to get stronger just so he could protect his home and the people who are precious to him. "

"Home? Precious people?" Inari asked

He nodded, "Yes."

He watched as Inari's frown slowly curved upward into a smile. He didn't really know the correct words to describe the way Inari's expression changed, but he would relate it to fog lifting off a mirror.

"I wanna protect my precious people too!" Inari exclaimed , his smile growing even wider, revealing teeth. Naruto grinned as he once again began ruffling Inari's hair, "Why don't you go outside and give your mom a hug? I'll join you two once I'm finished sharpening my kunai."

"Alright!"

Naruto watched with a smile as Inari ran excitedly out of the kitchen to find her mother who was currently hanging clothes out to dry.

CRASH!

Tsunami gasped in shock as her front door was slashed open by numerous sword strikes. She turned to see what was happening and saw two men with swords standing in the hole in the wall. One, a young man with white hair, marks under his eyes, a dark purple hat on his head, and a blue hooded jacket. The other was a shirtless man with brown hair, an eyepatch, tattoos on his body, and a few scars to go with them. They were none other than Zorri and Warraji, Gatou's personal bodyguards.

"So you're Tazuna's daughter," Zorri snickered. "I gotta admit you are quite the beauty."

"Mom!" Inari cried in fear.

"Inari!" Tsunami cried as the two swordsman noticed her son. "Run! Run away from here!"

The two swordsmen seemed to consider Inari for a moment before Warrajie spoke up, "Should we grab the kid too?"

"Don't you dare!" Tsunami cried getting to her knees. "If you so much as touch him then I'll bite my own tongue out! Gatoh wants me unharmed doesn't he?!"

"LET GO OF MY MOM!" Inari shouted as he charged towards both man. Zorri quickly caught him in the mid air and shoved him face first on the ground.

"Shut up, Brat! " Warraji grinned maliciously as he licked his lips while Zorri started unbuttoning Tsunami's dress.

"What are you doing to Inari?!" Tsunami cried , sniffling in fear as Waraji's partner, Zori, leered at her body.

"First, we're going to make him watch us as we rape you , I am pretty sure boss is going to let us keep you around. We are going to need some entertainment afterall! " Waraji answered with a cruel smirk, "Once we break you enough using drugs and stuff... ...We'll sell your brat off. I'm sure he'd be worth a pretty penny. I heard young boys are starting to get popular."

"Ben 10 won't spare you and your beloved Gatou-sama, HE WILL KILL YOU! " Tsunami screamed only to get slapped across the face.

Where's Naruto?!" Inari cried inwardly as the pressure on his jaw forced him to grit his teeth. Only If Ben was here, Those hooligans wouldn't even dare to lay a finger on them. But Ben told him those ninjas were heroes like him. Especially Naruto

Inari felt the hope quickly drain from him. Was everything that Ben said a lie? Did he fail to understand what those ninjas really were? Was Naruto just going to leave him and his mother to die?

Warraji squinted his eyes in amusement as he saw an orange silhouette falling from the sky. His eyes widened even further as that silhouette multiplied into hundreds of look a likes. His confused expression quickly turned to that of surprise and then horror as the silhouette revealed itself to be an army of very enraged ...Naruto, Each look a like of Naruto holding a kunai in their hands. Slamming his Katana on the ground Waraji unleashed a powerful chakra wave, Knocking several duplicate backwards. He moved through the orange army while increasing his speed using _Iaido ._

However, For each Naruto slain a new one took his place. It was instantaneous. Difference between their speed was almost negligible. Not even considering their massive numbers. Waraji went for a sideway slash using one of his katana while other was used for heart piercing strikes. Naruto was constantly on his toes, Forced to rely on constant usage of **Kawarimi** and **Shadow Clone Jutsu.** He was dying to get a chance to hit Waraji, However with him brushing through his clones like that, It seemed a bit harder than he initially hoped. Naruto blinked as he felt something very strange, Feeling very much aware of something. While Warraji was faster and stronger, The moment he paused to dispose of Naruto's clones, Naruto knew his location. It was more like he instantaneously got images of how, where and when his clone was hit, Right after the said clone was destroyed.

 _My clones... I am getting their memories , Once they get dispersed._

Using Samurai Saber Techniques Waraji unleashed a powerful wave of Chakra, Destroying a hand full of clones in the process. They poofed out in existence while leaving a huge cloud of smoke behind. Warraji coughed, staggering backwards as he was forced to inhale some of it. Before he could even blink a powerful kick on his nose smashed him backwards. Not intending to give his enemy a chance to recover, Fifty duplicates of Naruto appeared out of nowhere, Dogpiling on his enemy Naruto kicked and punched him in every possible place. A few notorious clones drop kicked the samurai in between his legs back and forth.

"URK!" Waraji croaked, as he was slammed into the ground. Blood dripped from everywhere when Naruto smashed two kunais on his shoulders and knees. Successfully incapacitating his foe. Following by a huge scream filled with pain, Waraji lost his consciousness. Zori cried as he saw Waraji going limp. Naruto didn't miss a beat as he dashed towards Zori like a bullet. With his ten look alikes following him from behind. Zori had no choice but to quickly roll off of Tsunami to dodge Naruto's attack, quickly drawing his katana in the process.

" **Rupture! "**

Naruto cried in pain as a powerful wave of chakra emerged from Zori's sword knocking him backwards and dispersing his clone.

"DIE! YOU MIDGET! " The white-haired samurai mercenary quickly charged in. Naruto recovered in time to use **Kawarimi** to save himself from a deadly uppercut aimed to slash him apart. He was lucky to have taken Waraji by surprise, but his next opponent would prove to be a much more difficult challenge.

However, That was nowhere near to scare Naruto Uzumaki. Not even close, Believe it!

With a familiar hand sign several look alikes of Naruto emerged out of nowhere, All of them ready to take the fall for their creator. Jumping towards the samurai with kunais in their hands, They provided amazing resistance before puffing out in a cloud of smoke. Clash between kunai and samurai saber made a disturbing screeching sound, Which loudly rung throughout the area, It did disturb Naruto though, However Zori didn't seem much affected.

"Why. Won't. You. DIE!?" Zori screamed, his anger ruining his form, causing him to slam his katana down at an awkward angle. Using **Kawarimi** in the nick of time Naruto dodged the enraged Samurai's deadly swings. Making the entire floor to be covered with handful of Wooden logs. Despite ducking back and fourth , Making Clones for distraction, The Samurai's speed and strength was a big issue. No matter how much Naruto tried the enraged Samurai kept closing onto him. Naruto attempted to went airborne and make necessary hand signs for **Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.** However, A nasty chakra shockwave pinned Naruto on the ground.

While using _Iaido_ Zori closed onto Naruto, He slammed his feet onto the blonde's wrist before he could make any hand signs. Performing a daring backflip, Naruto ducked under a deadly swipe. Which managed to draw a huge gash on his orange tattered clothes. Desperate to get away from his lethal nemesis, Naruto performed several double jumps in the air, Landing on the ground with wobbling knees. Naruto's jaw literally dropped in the floor when chakra covered Zori's blade and it started extending, Like a claw. The Uzumaki was slammed backwards as the samurai tore apart the soft ground beneath him. Naruto gulped while in mid air, His little heart drumming against his chest as Zori brought forth his Katana, Ready to unleash a deadly chakra shockwave. However before he could do so, A frying pan embedded on the Samurai's head causing him to turn around.

"Get away from Naruto!" Inari shouted before hurling a dinner plate towards Zori. Guided by his instincts Zori quickly reached around to catch the projectile. His moment of distraction gave Naruto the perfect opening.

 **"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu"**

Zori turned around in horror, It was like someone had whacked the camera of reality, as the world shimmered before his eyes.

Then it turned orange.

Turning around, going up to the farthest he could see and probably even beyond that, there was a copy of Naruto's traditional orange jumpsuit moving around. His look alikes were hanging from trees like giants leaves, and several even emerged right over his shoulders. Before Zori could retaliate thousands of feet smashed onto each and every part of his body. The man was hoisted painfully into the air, With several Naruto duplicates on the top of him. Naruto hit him with so much force and ferocity that some clones dispersed due to the afterburn from dealing such heavy-duty blows. Zori didn't even have the time to breath as everything he knew became pain. Multiple kunais pierced through his hands, Knees, Shoulders and even toenails. With a final blow, Naruto smashed Zori's skull on the ground. Which made a small crater on the floor.

The Jinchuriki then turned to Tsunami and Inari, Dispelling his clones in the process. "You guys okay?" He spoke out with a voice filled with concern

"Y-Yeah.. We're okay," stammered Tsunami, doing her best to look decent despite the fact that the front of her pink shirt had flecks of blood on it.

"Sorry that you had to go through that.."

"No, no. It's okay. You dealt with them, It's more than good enough" Tsunami bowed in gratitude before standing up and walking over to Inari to hug him.

Taking note of Inari's dejected look , Naruto walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, " You did good, Inari. I saw how brave you were. You even saved me back there"

"B-But.. I couldn't do anything.." Inari responded quietly, his voice nothing short of a whisper "I wasn't strong enough."

"Inari," began Naruto, "You don't just have to be strong to protect someone. You got to be brave. Anyone can become strong but not everyone can be brave."

 _"You know what, Inari? I am a hero who have powers, Just because I have powers doesn't make me a hero"_

Inari blinked as he recalled what Ben told him yesterday. Finally, He realized what he wanted to tell him.

"R-Really..?"

"Really," Naruto replied with a smile.

"Thanks, Naruto.." Inari grinned, returning Naruto's smile with his one of his own.

Naruto ruffled his hair before something off into the distance caught his eye. A heavy mist seemed to have rolled in around the bridge. Naruto frowned as he knew exactly what that mist entailed.

"I gotta go, Inari," Naruto spoke out in a serious tone before looking over at Tsunami, "I think my team and Ben are in danger."

"Go ahead, Naruto. We can handle ourselves here," said Tsunami, bowing her head in thanks.

"I'll be back soon."

"Stay safe, Naruto," Tsunami responded with an uncharacteristic cheerful smile. "And good luck."

"Go kick their butts, Future Hokage! " Inari spoke out with a wide grin spread over his face

Naruto gave him a confident grin before giving both her and Inari a thumbs up.

"I surely will, Believe it! ."

...xxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxx...

Haku threw a scroll over the ground and made a few hand signs, Ben flinched as the masked female went through hand signs using one of her hands. Ben glanced at Kakashi, The war veteran's eyes flashing his shock and surprise. Which meant whatever was happening, It wasn't a common phenomenon. A dangerous blue energy started leaking out from the boy, Swirling around him like a tornado.

"This spells trouble! " Sasuke muttered, If this energy was what he thought, Then it spelled trouble. Ben noticed the sudden drop in the temperature . It didn't affect him too much. However, Sasuke and Sakura could see their own breaths. Out of the condensed frosty energy, Two separate entities started to form. Quickly they revealed themselves to be mirror images of Zabuza and Haku. However, Unlike the one Ben destroyed before, These one seemed to be more deadlier than before. Ben was tempted to change into something more effective in this situation, But the Ultimatrix bearer knew he was dealing with unknown enemies with unknown abilities. He must keep his trump cards hidden until the very moment he might need it.

"So , What's with the light show, Sidekick? Is this your gig? Ice " Ben responded with a confident smile, His voice was firm and his eyes didn't show any sort of fear or nervousness.

"These are special water clones. Possessing over thirty five percent of the Original's abilities! " Kakashi spoke out with a hint of warning in his voice, " I believe the fake hunter nin wants to fight you one on one and don't want anyone else to interfere! "

"This is the least I can do for the Hero of the Wave! " Haku responded with a bow, Causing Ben's eyebrows to twitch in irritation. He always had issues while dealing with strong, silent and emotionless types. He liked when his enemies became annoyed with him, Not the other way around.

"HERE COMES UZUMAKI NARUTO, BELIEVE IT!"

Using a couple of smoke bombs as a distraction, Naruto made his flashy entrance to the scene by performing several cart wheels on the railings of the bridge. Causing everyone to sweat drop. Still, The team 7 was more than happy to see Naruto finally arriving on the battlefield. This actually made things a little bit less one sided now. With an overly heroic pose Naruto took his fighting stance.

"Alright, listen up everyone! Uzumaki Naruto is ready to kick some misty butt! Come on, let's get started!" Naruto proclaimed with a foxy grin.

"Ben, The masked nin is yours. Naruto , protect Tazuna from the Zabuza water clone. Sakura and Sasuke, engage with the water clone. You will be able to match the clones' speed using tree walking exercise but stay on your guard. These are not your normal water clones! " Kakashi barked his orders.

Naruto was taken back by the copy nin's sudden authority display, but quickly nodded. "H-Hai!"

Clone-Haku made a hand sign and an even thicker mist began rolling over. This time it was being as thick as the black clouds. It was as if their enemies had disappeared in the shroud of darkness and mist. All three genins gulped in fear, while Ben just cursed under his breath.

 _"Damn! I am starting to hate this universe."_


	7. Chapter 7

Tazuna was sandwiched in between ten Narutos while the original one tried to take a shot at his virtually invisible enemy. Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration, It was really starting to get harder to see through the mist. It didn't help much that he was dealing with a clone. How was he supposed to become Hokage if he couldn't deal with a stupid bunshin. He stood in between ten solid copies of himself. At this point, Naruto hated not knowing any jutsus apart from basic ones. **Shadow Clones** were very much awesome but they were just a version of him in the end. Besides they weren't much durable. The blonde wished if there was more to his trademark jutsu, But it wasn't like he was going to see that scroll once again and adults left him pretty much to his own devices. Whether it was Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei or Hokage-jiji. How was he supposed to get stronger if he didn't figure out how to improve himself? Ben took on multiple clones efficiently and He didn't even know a damn thing about Chakra that time. He even managed to sneak behind Zabuza and beat the crap out of him while all he managed to do was scratch his arm, Even that was done with Sasuke-Teme's help.

"Boo! " Someone whispered in his ears. Naruto turned around only to see a massive fist coming for his head. The Uzumaki cried in pain as he was sent spiralling backwards. Naruto was then forced to cross his arms over his body to take the kick sent at him. The blow slammed into her guard and sent her spiraling through the air, bouncing across the ground.

"You don't have time to look idle, boy!" the look a like of Zabuza Momoichi exclaimed, drawing the massive blade from his back. Spinning the massive blade in his hand, He lashed towards Naruto. Instantly a make shift barrier consisting of Naruto's look a likes surrounded him. Having the same mindset of original, Zabuza look a like wondered. The copy ninja had someone on his team who could use chakra as if it was his toy. Even while creating his **Shadow Clones,** The boy was putting a lot more chakra then usual. Which was terrifying considering the fact that **Shadow Clone Jutsu** itself was a high level chakra consumption technique. Even making a few would bring a normal Jounin on the brink of exhaustion. Naruto's look a like provided him with enough breather to put some distance between him and the Water clone.

"You have some tricks lad, I gotta admit. However you are nowehere near the beast or the Uchiha" The Water clone mocked. Naruto gritted his teeth furiously, He made a familiar handsign. With a poof of smoke twenty solid copies of Naruto appeared out of nowhere.

All of them were already prepared with kunais in their hands, Pushing chakra in their feet using the tree walking exercise. The water clone swung his blade widely, Effectively blocking the shower of kunais. However his eyes widened when the real Naruto jumped over his massive blood and delivered a powerful dropkick right on its nose. The water clone immediately backed away. Swinging his blade with amazing grace and speed, He carved the sharp metal inside the Naruto look a likes, As fast as he could. While most of them dispersed into a smokey cloud, One was smashed backwards leaving behind a trail of blood. However, the instant she was sure he'd bifurcated the girl, Naruto's two halves suddenly went up in a cloud of white smoke, which was replaced shortly afterwards by a log, which had been cut clean through by the weapon. The Water clone blinked in surprise, "Kawarimi? Heh… nice trick. I didn't think you were that fast."

The real Naruto panted as he replaced himself with one of the shadow clones guarding Tazuna. His eyes widened once again as the water clone vanished inside the mist again.

"The moment I get my hands on real you, I am gutting you like a fish! " The terrifying voice echoed through the mist. Naruto gulped. Even the thirty two percent of Zabuza was too much for him. He clearly had a lot of catching up to do. For someone who wanted to be Hokage, The most elite ninja in the village, He failed to utilize his time as much as he should have. Now he needed to stop trying to outperform Sasuke and actually attempt to get better. Thinking about the situation, The only way to win this was bring Zabuza's clone out in open. There was no use trading fists with him because that would take him nowhere. The Water clone was still physically superior and possessed far more skills.

Suddenly, A light bulb flashed in his mind. He quickly turned to Tazuna and spoke out with a mischievous grin

"Oie, Old man! Wanna help me beat this weirdo? "

"WHAT? " Tazuna dumbfounded. Naruto's smile widened in return, Before Tazuna could know what was going on, Naruto and his look a like grabbed each of his hands and started running. While Tazuna cried like a banshee, Naruto didn't even bother to look back. He knew Zabuza's clone was right after him. He left his shadow clones behind at every step, Which were effortlessly killed by the water clone but providing a crucial information on Clone-Zabuza's location. After running for a minute or two nothing happened. Spinning around the Uzumaki took a pause, He took a long breath as he stood at the massive bridge's near end. Panting heavily, he glued his eyes on the path ahead again. His remaining clones were taken out at lightning fast pace. While Naruto couldn't see or hear his adversary due to the Water clone's mastery in silent killing. His new-found ability to pin point his adversary using the Shadow Clones as a bait came quite handy in time like this.

Naruto froze as he noticed his fast moving adversary coming right behind him, All while brandishing his huge blade at Tazuna.

"Got ya! " The water clone cried as he closed the distance between them. Before he could attack Tazuna was replaced with a wooden log. The clone's eyes widened in surprise as multiple exploding tags came out of nowhere, In courtesy of twenty solid copies of Naruto who emerged from the thin air. The Clone managed to swat away several of them, However a certain amount of tags attached themselves on his shoulders like a glue.

 **BOOM**

With a single handsign all of them went off like a mine, Blowing away a small chunk of sturdy bridge. Zabuza look a like shattered like a piece of glass, Turning back into nothing but a spray of water droplets. The shockwave from the explosion smashed Naruto backwards, Making him land on the solid ground face first. The Uzumaki cried in pain as everything around him became blurry and started to fade away. A smile flashed on his face despite the pain he was feeling.

Naruto Uzumaki was the most badass Ninja ever!

And just like that, Unconsciousness took him. However, The smile on his face still remained as bright as ever.

...xxxxxxxx... xxxxxxxxxx...

The clone Haku dashed towards Sasuke and Sakura with senbon in her hands, Pulling out another kunai from his left holster, Sasuke had barely enough time to clash his knives against the clone's needles. He winced at the sheer power behind the attack, and was forced to take a step back. Sakura gulped and approached Haku trembling all the way. This was not going to be pretty for her. She always disliked the physical part of shinobi training, thinking that the sweat would ruin her hair and make her look less appealing to Sasuke. Of course, not one time had Sasuke ever bothered to say anything about her looks, or anything about her, to be honest. She just kept waiting for that day were Sasuke would look at her in the eye, caress her cheek and slowly but firmly join his lips with hers. But that day wasn't coming anywhere in near future if she died today. Pusing chakra in her feet, She attacked the masked ninja with a by the book roundhouse kick. This proved to be a bad decision, Clone Haku grabbed her feet and smashed a powerful elbow in her solar plexus. Sakura landed hard on her face, Breaking her nose in the process.

Sasuke cursed under his breath, For the first time he wished Naruto was fighting with him. He may have been an idiot but still he was hundred times better than Sakura. For someone who was supposed to be rookie of the year, A title that he too shared, The only thing she knew were basics. Pouring chakra inside his feet, He charged towards Clone Haku with as much speed as his body allowed him. Unfortunately, Clone Haku merely blocked all of his incomings with her two hands with little effort. Sakura slowly stood up, Blood had started dripping from her nose, She was sure one of her ribs were almost broken and this battle was way out of her league.

She wondered what Naruto was doing right now, Atleast she had Sasuke-kun with him. Naruto was fighting alone while having the burden of protecting Tazuna. She prayed to kami about that idiot's well being. He was annoying and clingy but he was also her teammate. She didn't want him to die. Naruto may be in need of their help and to do that, They need to finish of that masked ninja's water clone.

Sakura, thinking of a way to at least inflict some sort of damage, came up with a risky, yet not so crazy idea. While Sasuke was struggling against Clone Haku's senbons, She dashed on her right. Taking advantage of the fact that both hands of her opponent was occupied. Using her left hand and a little bit of ninja wire, She grabbed Haku's right one in a way that she couldn't use her senbon.

With one of Haku's hands immobilized, Sasuke went for a stab. This was a powerful version of Water clone technique but still it was a water clone. It barely had any durability that original one had. All he needed to do was deal a powerful blow and the Clone would be a goner. Taking out a fuma shuriken, Sasuke went for a deadly stab. The clone lifted her feet at the right moment and kicked the Uchiha. Sasuke was sent spiralling backwards while Sakura was left to deal with both of Clone Haku's hands now. Seeing no point in staying there Sakura jumped back, Albeit not before taking a few nasty blows in the first place. However, Clone Haku dashed towards her with senbon. Sasuke who quickly managed to recover from the attack, Threw a barrage of his own Shurikens. The clone of masked ninja was quick in performing a single handsign and made a log of wood take her place.

"You two are making this unnecessarily complicated." The clone Haku said, her voice just as monotone as ever. "Me and Zabuza-sama have no quarrel with you. The bridge-builder is the only person we're looking for."

Sasuke scoffed at her. "Nice try, but we're not finished with you yet."

Clone Haku' stared at the duo in front of her, not moving one inch. Soon she made a handsign, Using only one hand. Sakura gulped in shock and fear, No matter how many times she saw the masked ninja doing that, It scared the shit out of him. And Ben was fighting the real deal right now. Ben had his abilities too but somehow this masked ninja seemed more scary. Besides Ben didn't have any ninja training, The masked ninja was all around on the level of an ANBU. Ben was as close as a team mate, She didn't want him to die too

 **"Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death"**

Sakura watched in horror as a thousand ice needles came into existence just above him. Half of them were pointing at him, the other half pointing at her teammate. Sakura panicked, If those needles were to hit her, She will definitely die but she was so young. She couldn't afford to die like this. " _Calm yourself._ ' Sakura thought, breathing in and out, slowly trying to calm her increasing heartbeats. ' _Remember the training. Adjust your chakra and wait for the perfect moment.'_

"This is the end for both of you."

The Clone Haku lifted his index and middle fingers. The ice needles shot themselves towards Sasuke and Sakura. In a fraction of a second, Sasuke pushed chakra in his feet. It felt as if time had slowed down to him. For a moment, he felt like he was about to pass out, but he refused to. He was fighting for his life as well as the lives of his teammates, and neither of them were giving up even though they were facing the same situations as him. He was not giving up. Everything started to look more... defined, and so much more detailed. Those were the only adjectives he could come up with. His vision kept adjusting itself to the point where he could barely recognize his surroundings. He could observe each and every needle with ease. Not only that he could also notice littlest amount of details. Pushing chakra in his feet he jumped away from the devastating attack,

A curse left his mouth as he nearly tripped over a rough landing, It was as if his eyes could see but body couldn't follow. His eyes widened in realization as a scream of pain was heard throughout the bridge. Sasuke stood shell shocked as he witnessed Sakura's body pierced by hundreds of sharp projectiles.

His eyes continued to widen in horror as Sakura's body twitching in agony before passing out... just to be replaced by a log of wood covered in the ice needles she created.

 _'What!? No way! Body Replacement Jutsu!?_ ' The Haku mentally shouted in disbelief. Taking advantage of his enemy's shock. Sasuke jumped in the air, Performing the necessary hand signs, Sasuke took a deep breath. " **Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu"**

The clone Haku frowned as a fireball came out of Uchiha's mouth. She backflipped in the air several times while performing handsigns, The moment the fireball was about to make contact, A thick block of ice appeared in front of her, Taking the damage of Sasuke's jutsu. However, before she could retaliate a bunch of metallic wires wrapped around her feet.

The Clone Haku suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness engulfing her psyche, Quickly her eyes widened in realization. She was falling prey to a classic Sleeping Genjutsu. She pushed the other chakra out of her system, Only to see the pink haired kunoichi dashing towards her in high speeds. Her heart was beating fast and her legs were shaky, but she refused to give up. She was useless the first time she and her team battled Zabuza. This time, it was going to be different. She only had two exploding tags with her, While they could do some damage to the bridge, The first thing they needed to do was deal with their enemy. She carefully wrapped them around her kunais. Meanwhile Sasuke once again dashed towards Clone Haku with similar handsign, Jumping on a different angle he breathed an even bigger fireball this time.

With the speed of a Gatling gun Haku started firing Senbons, A few of them managed to pierce through Sasuke's neck. Aimed to hit the most vital point of his nervous system. The pain was so crushing that he couldn't even scream. His arms felt wobbly, almost dead. The Uchiha fell on his knees, His consciousness fading in instance.

Sakura was next to follow. Using a simple ninja wire she arranged the trajectory of her kunais right at the moment Haku moved to dodge Sasuke's attack and throw senbons at them. A few of them hit her vital points instantly. Soon, she fell into same predicament as Sasuke. Her consciousness leaving her. However, Clone Haku couldn't dodge the kunais in time and she was forced to deflect them using senbons. The moment she tried to defend herself. The magic happened.

 **BOOM**

And just like that another explosion shook the bridge , A small part of railing shattered and a chunk of cement fell inside the river, Including the water puddle which used to be Clone Haku.

...xxxxxxxx... xxxxxxx...

Haku watched her prey as she sprinted in random directions, hoping to throw Ben off guard. It seemed to be working, as the boy made no indication about being able to keep up with her velocity

'It is clear that he cannot see my movements,' the stoic hunter observed quietly as she continued her random pattern. 'Now is the time to strike.' The girl hit the ground and rebounded. Now she was speeding straight at the other fighter's back, who made no effort to see where Haku was coming from. The masked shinobi drew back, all her fingers clustered together, ready for an attack on a vital pressure point that would render Ben an invalid. Zabuza didn't know medical Ninjutsu, So She doubted if he could ever figure out what she was doing. It was her own decision to spare Ben. She may be unfortunate enough to be her opponent but she wasn't going to kill him just because Gatou wanted them to. Ben deserved better than that.

Haku's fingers flew forward, ready to take out her monstrous adversary with a knockout blow. Time slowed down as Haku watched the other teen grinning widely, His right fist beginning to glow with nothing but sheer amount of raw chakra. She didn't have time to correct her trajectory or withdraw her attack, She was wide open. Before she could know what was going on, A clawed hand smashed on her porcelain mask. It wasn't clear whether that was a slap or fist or elbow but it had more than equivalent strength behind it. The shockwave emerging from the attack, drilled a hole through the thick mist, As Haku felt what it appeared to be a Rhino ramming his horn on her forehead while being tossed over the a set of construction equipment and machineries.

After a lot of trouble Haku managed to land on the water, Finally recovering from the spiralling motion. She took a long breath as several droplets of blood started falling from her lips. One of her eyes was almost swollen shut and it appeared that she might have a partial fracture in her nose.

 _"That sort of strength... I never saw any Taijutsu masters hitting that hard, Even Zabuza -sama doesn't hit that hard. Another one like this and I am a goner. I gotta end this quickly if I want to fulfill both of my objectives! "_

Haku clenched her fist in determination as she caught a glimpse of Ben, Landing on the water on all fours.

"You are making this unnecessary complicated, Haku said, her voice just as monotone as ever. "Me and Zabuza-sama have no quarrel with you. The bridge-builder is the only person we're looking for."

Ben blinked at hearing the voice filled with guilt and pain. To be honest he was a bit taken aback by this new development. This made the deadly shinobi appear more human than before. Reminding him once again that he was dealing with a child soldier , instead of someone. Of course, who was a pure psychopath and completely heartless.

Shinobis were supposed to be merciless and apathetic to everything apart from their missions. Kakashi made it very clear to him on a personal level. From what he knew about Zabuza, the man was cold blooded, ruthless, pretty much around Kakashi's level of strength and a man that certainly wouldn't hesitate to kill a bunch of twelve years-old if he had to. He made that perfectly clear the day they met. It was only natural to assume that the individual working as his right hand would be similar to him in both mind state and skills. The girl did make it clear that she had no qualms with killing Tazuna, However her eyes still showed hesitation while fighting him.

However as this shinobi hesitating and actually trying to reason with him, he decided to make a similar offer.

"I don't have any qualms with you either, stop working for Gatou and everything will be golden."

Ben remarked with a grin while charging towards the ice bending ninja with a vicious uppercut. Haku was quick to evade, However it took a huge amount of effort on her part. She jumped on to Ben's right, Aiming several senbons at Ben's eyes. The only part she could take advantage of. While rest of his body did take damage towards a certain extent, as the needles couldn't pierce through his skin, her knowledge of pressure points wasn't helping her much in the situation. She then went for a low kick followed by several jabs, which did manage to make him wince a bit in pain but failed to leave any sort of desirable impact.

Haku felt like she was testing her strength against some sort of hard rock. She flinched a bit, Her wrists almost turning red due to the heavy after burns she received from hitting her rather study enemy

"What's wrong sidekick? Don't tell me you ran out of your flashy tricks, Do you? " Ben chuckled, With a flicker on his symbol, He changed his appearance back to human while keeping his transformation 's abilities. Before she could respond Ben was already in the air, A pair of sneakers about to make contact with her face. However Ben was forced to stagger backwards as a block of ice appeared out of nowhere , Blocking his attack.

"You are an undeniably powerful foe, However you are in my realm now! " Haku spoke with steel in her voice, "Here everything is my weapon! "

"Aw! I am so scared, Snow flakes! " Ben chuckled, It wasn't like he thought Haku was weak. It was just that he had taken on far more powerful foes and survived. Mainly due to a string of good luck and timely interventions from Ultimatrix's AI. It was more about his confidence that as long as he was a hero, He would win in the end. Haku went through a series of hand signs, Making the blue frosty chakra swirl around her body.

Ben narrowed down his eyes as the water around him came to life, It rises above its normal levels and started moving around them like slithering snakes. The Ultimatrix bearer tried to jump away from his adversary. He knew about the Anti Death protocol of Ultimatrix AI which protected him at any cost and in any scenario. Even the destruction of Entire Universe. Surprisingly, It even worked in Anur Vladias. Still, Too much disregard for himself can be injurious to his health. However his head was smacked against a person sized slab of pure Ice, Which was comparably as strong as any metal he came across. Pushing chakra on his feet Ben jumped again, This time another slab blocked his path. Feeling annoyed Ben tore apart several of them, However, New ones quickly appeared to take their place. Just like that, Hundreds of such reflective slabs hovered in the air. Effectively trapping him inside.

"You know Snowflakes , If you guys aren't too much into killing people, You can do great in Circus. Kids will definitely love your... gig... with mirrors and Ice" Ben responded with a grin, remaining unfazed despite getting trapped into Haku's Ultimate Jutsu. The Ultimatrix bearer winced at how much cold this was starting to feel. He felt like he was taking a stroll in the frozen lake in Alaska. He regretted not having a chilli fry with him right now, Eating something crunchy and spicy really set the mood for the battle.

"I had an idea the battle would drag this far. That's why I was saving this specially for you! " The girl spoke in an emotionless tone.

"It's not that I am not flattered but you really are a lousy girlfriend prospect! " Ben let out a groan. Surprisingly, A light shade of pink adorned the girl's cheeks as she dispersed inside the mirrors. Ben looked around him, The mirrors had started merging with each other, Forming a remarkable barrier of Ice. Apart from a few inches of breathing space, Everything else was engulfed in a perfect sphere of ice. Ben huffed in annoyance, With the ice mixing in, It was hard to smell where she went. Now that was creepy. It reminded him of those times where he had to fight Zombozo in a mirror house. As if that wasn't enough, Multiple reflections of Haku appeared in each and every reflective surfaces. Ben could feel as if she was underwater too.

"That was a harsh thing to say, Ben-kun! You have no manners about how to address a female!" The voice spoke through reflections. It was hard to understand because it felt that his sense of smell was going Haywire. He cracked his knuckles and breathe out some visible air.

 _Wait a minute! Zabuza's lackey is a girl! I certainly didn't see that coming._

"Oh, I am a prim and proper gentleman but my courtesy doesn't extend to hags!" Ben scoffed in annoyance. Now he couldn't see or hear what was going on outside this barrier. He was completely isolated from everyone.

"You have quite colorful language and you are still filled with life and energy despite being at my absolute mercy! " Haku wondered aloud, Making Ben blink in confusion. "Yet, You don't fight with the intention to kill me. So it seems we are not that different from each other! "

"Only in your dreams! " Ben's eyebrows twitched in irritation. The Ice bender giggled at Ultimatrix bearer's childish response. " Ben clenched his fists tightly as he snapped angrily, "Alright, do you want me to fight you or not?"

" I have no desire to harm you as long as you stay out of Zabuza-sama's way!" Haku responded as a matter of fact. She sent a wave of even larger and sharper needles towards Ben, from every side which Ben managed to block with the usage of **Contego,** something which he could do a lot more effectively after learning the surface walking techniques.

"Impressive, you also have a barrier technique. However even if my attacks can't reach you for the time being, you are still trapped in my domain."

"So what do you want to talk about? My favourite color, Your hobbies, Favorite food? Or this is some creepy form of date! " Ben remarked in a voice filled with sarcasm.

"I want to ask you is that! " Haku responded with curiosity in her voice, "Why do you fight for the people of wave? Its pretty obvious that you are not from here and everyone knows what happened in the land of water. You are the last of your kind, Yet you thrive to fight against your better for the people who can't even stand up for themselves! "

"I don't share sob stories with baddies, Snowflakes! " Ben let out a groan as he jumped over towards the center of Icy barrier. He smashed the maximum amount of chakra he could summon in his hands, Attempting to use Stone Cutter with both of his hands. The effect was devastating because Ben wasn't hitting a real person this time thus there was no restrain behind it. Instantly a barrage of mirrors shattered, However with the speed of thoughts another took his place. Before Ben could pull his arm back, An Ice block covered his entire left arm. The absolute cold made his limb go numb. Ben roughly landed on his one hand in an amazing athletic display.

"You really didn't think I underestimated your overwhelming physical abilities and immense durability, Did you? " Haku retorted in a stoic tone. Ben growled in anger and brought his hands in attempt to use another transformation. However before he could do that, His free hand got encased inside thick slab of ice . Ben cried in pain as another one of his limbs went numb

"Your strength is related to the seal on your chest, As long as you can't touch it, You can't access your gifts!" Haku remarked, "My technique allows me unregistered speed, So no matter how fast you try to reach it. I won't let you! "

Ben frowned, This was starting to get a bit troublesome right now. The water around him was starting to get denser, May be thicker too, It was restricting his movements. Ultimatrix bearer was unable to lift up both of his legs. It felt like he was stuck inside a frosty quicksand, The more he tried to get himself out, The more restricted his movements started to become. Ben's eyes widened as the the sphere slowly started to shrink, He could feel the icy slab beneath his feet and it had started rising.

"You haven't answered my question yet. " The stoic female spoke out once again, Ben gritted his teeth as the makeshift frosty coffin began getting smaller and smaller.

"Don't get too cocky snow flakes, I have been through much worse! " Ben glared at the images in front of him, "If you really want to know why I fight for the people of the wave ...I do it because I hate bullies! "

Haku raised an eyebrow, Unable to understand what the young plumber wanted to say. She blinked in amusement as Ben spoke out once again.

"Those with powers should be kind and willing to help others around. They should have moral code. But its not the truth everytime. Strong had always been tempted to take advantage of the people who can't stand up to them. In the end, It's up to those who have the ability to face such individuals. I couldn't do much for my home , No matter how much I tried. I won't let same thing happen to Land of the Waves. " He spoke in a voice filled with determination and confidence.

"Once this mission ends, We have no desire to continue aiding Gatou. If you surrender for now you may get another chance to free this country! " She offered, As if pleading to him.

"What about Tazuna and the ninjas fighting on my side? Are you telling me that I should let them die? " Ben snapped in anger, His eyes taking a bright pink shade

"This is a harsh world Ben-kun. Not everyone's dreams get to be fulfilled. You are not God, You can't save everyone . A path of shinobi is a cruel one but they chose it for themselves. They signed up for this violent and dangerous life. You on the other hand were on just at the bad place, At a very bad place. You deserve better than being killed on battlefield like this! " Haku spoke through an intense voice.

"This makes you even worse than Zabuza! " Ben spat venomously, "You know right from wrong, You have mercy in your heart, Yet you choose to let hundreds of people suffer just because your master says so! It's ridiculous "

"It is the path I have chosen for myself, I can kill you thousand times over for my master's sake if I have to. However I would prefer if we don't have to go that far! " Haku responded fiercely

"Why? "

"You are not the only one who lost their home despite having gifts like that! " Haku spoke in a rather soft tone. Ben blinked at hearing that, This Haku was really a confusing character. The more he tried to figure out, The more weird it sounded. Things weren't just black and white thus he was confused about what to do about her. But even if he didn't wish to beat her to within an inch of her life, the problem remained the same. He needed to get out of here as soon as possible. If anything happened to Tazuna, members of team 7 or even Kakashi, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Ben winced, dropping on his knees. Even with an enhanced body, effects of the frostbite had started catching up to him.

"I know. That's why I can't stop trying to make a difference. Even if it means taking on the likes of you and Zabuza...I won't give up." Ben spoke with a smile, a hint of steel in his voice.

"You are nothing more than an animal trapped in cage, You may growl and scratch but its the only thing you can do! " Haku retorted in a stoic tone.

"Many people make a mistake to underestimate me, I don't mind though, This just makes it easier for me to kick their asses!" Ben chuckled, even though he seemed cold and firm, he was nervous from inside. The Ultimatrix didn't have the ability to make him transform just by using his thoughts like his old Omnitrix did, even with the master control. While he did have a voice command feature back at his home, the incident at Anur Vladias turned it off and even though he could have solved that problem by using **Grey Matter** , he just forgot to work on it afterwards. Only thing he could do right now was to use the randomizer function. A code which allowed him to turn into any random alien system picked from his playlist.

This could either turn the tide in his favor or make this battle even harder for him. However, he didn't have much choice in that regards, he needed to take that risk.

 _Here we go. Don't fail me this time friend._

" **Code O9O65BCDAE!"** Ben cried, His voice nothing short of a yell.

Haku's eyes widened in surprise as the the seal on Ben's chest started glowing, and his body bathed in a brilliant display of emerald lights. However he still remained locked in her makeshift frozen koffin. His eyes remained closed and his face didn't show any sort of visible emotions.

Her eyes narrowed down behind her mask, even though she couldn't exactly pinpoint it, something about the boy has changed.

"What's wrong? Have you finally decided to give up?" Haku asked, hoping that Ben would give up and she wouldn't have to kill a fellow Ice user. However her jaw dropped behind her half broken mask when Ben raised his head and leveled his glare with her. His once green eyes have now turned entirely blue, marked with irides centered on his pupils making it look like some sort of flower in a constant rotation. _"What...? No...it can't be? A dojutsu? But I have never heard one with this description...What kind of bloodline limit is this?_

The now blue eyed species shifter stared at her, a confident grin emerging on his face as the slab of ice around him started to crack.

"It's show time."


	8. Chapter 8

The copy nin cursed as he blocked and dodged several more strikes, channeling chakra into his kunai so that it could allow him to counter the rogue nin's mighty sword. Despite his words that he believed in his students which was largely true. He was still very much worried about them. Despite having a lot of raw talent, all three of them were just fresh out of academy. Zabuza was practically a demon incarnate and the imposter hunter ninja had received training for many years from a ninja of the same caliber as him, even dealing with clones possessing a fraction of their power wasn't going to be easy. He was even starting to get worried about Ben too. Even though the young Tennyson was in a league of his compared to his genins, the imposter hunter ninja had a lot of experience and prior knowledge about how Ben's bloodline limit worked. If they could come up with a strategy to disable Sharingan, what stopped them from figuring out some ways to render Ben's bloodline limit useless. He needed to finish this as soon as possible.

"Well well, Just like I guessed before, you rely on your sharingan too much." Zabuza chuckled as he disappeared back into the thick mist, "Now that your sharingan is useless, You are nothing."

 _You won't get me this time around, Demon!_

Kakashi quickly pulled out a scroll, unrolling it as he wiped out some of the blood across the slash wound on his chest and spread it across the seal, "This might not suit your style but let's end the fun." The copy nin smirked beneath his mask as he threw the scroll in the air, caught it and began forming hand signs.

"Hmph! Show me what you have got!" Zabuza said, his voice echoing from every direction in the mist.

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

Meanwhile in the dome of ice mirrors, the newly transformed young hero smirked at Haku as his left eye went through some form of metamorphosis once again. Now appearing to bloody red with the flowery pattern replaced by a strange design of three tomoe followed by three curves spiralling counter clockwise around the pupil. He didn't know why but all of a sudden he felt about a hundred and fifty pound or so lighter, making him wonder if this yet to be named alien which mostly mirrored his normal physical appearance (apart from weird changes in his eyes) could use some form of superspeed.

"You seem a lot more focused than you were before." Haku said, she waited but received no response from Ben, "Are you still going to continue with this battle? I don't want to have to kill you."

"I don't want you to kill me either, Killer Frost." Ben cracked his knuckles , leveling his stare with Haku causing her to quickly raise her defenses, "But I can't let you kill my boss, we have a lot of work to do and I didn't even get my paycheck last week."

" _Here he comes."_ Haku thought, her eyes narrowing down as the boy hustled forward like a speeding bullet , with incredible speeds. The masked nin, almost invisible to the naked eye, increased her own speed and bounced to another mirror, forming multiple hand signs mid air. Inhaling a deep breath before exhaling

 **"Secret Technique : Ice Mist!"**

Ben noticed within a fraction of second as thick white mist began engulfing the area, crystalizing the small water molecules present in the atmosphere. At the same time he was also quite surprised that he could see her movements as if she was moving at normal speed

 _Incredible! She has the same ability as **Big Chill** and **Articguana .**_ _Damn! If I got struck by this once again, even bathing in the lake of Pyros won't be able to heal the frostbite I receive._

Not wanting to become a popsicle once again, he substituted himself with a piece of metallic slab lying on the bridge, which froze into his place, turning into a pure white crystalline structure.

Haku ended the technique and waited for the mist to clear, however she was quite surprised to see that Ben was nowhere to be found.

 _"What's this? How did he manage to escape once again?"_ Haku thought in awe and worry , " _Even Zabuza-sama has trouble dealing with this jutsu."_

Suddenly her eyes bulged as she found the wind knocked out from her. Ben, apparently a bit irritated with how long the fight had been going on, punched Haku into her solar plexus smashing her onto the ground.

Gasping in both surprise and a bit of pain, she retreated into one of the mirrors. Or at least she would have if Ben hadn't appeared right above her, grabbing her by head and with a huge battlecry smashed a chakra enhanced fist into her face.

 **"Stone Cutter!**

The force of the impact not only caused the mask to shatter instantaneously, it also sent her flying through the air, cracking a couple of mirrors upon collison. Before she could land on the railings, an invisible force slammed into her forcing her to bounce of the ground and skidding to a stop on her stomach. Unable to muster the huge amount of concentration and chakra needed to maintain the ice mirrors, they shattered and fell apart.

Ben ran over to her, ready to finish this for once and all, however he couldn't help but hesitate a bit when she rolled over, revealing her face. At the end of the day, She was just a child and now that he had defeated her, there was no point in continuing with this battle any more

Also this was the first time Ben could notice how much his view of the world had changed. Finally noticing how much incredible clarity and insight he had. Hack, he could even magnify up to cellular levels on his targets and see the chakra coursing through Haku's body, that was amazing.

"Why did you stop?" Haku coughed up blood as she raised herself on her arms and began to get up again, "Finish me off, To show mercy to anyone who stand against your master is a betrayal to your life's purpose." She said while wiping away the blood on her mouth, "What use are you to anyone then? Your life has no purpose."

"Huh, You are a fine one to talk. I don't think I need any advice from someone who has devoted her life to someone who runs errands for the scumbags like Gato. " Ben scoffed in annoyance, unable to understand why a child like Haku would give her life for someone like Zabuza.

"I was born in the land of water, a small village heavy with snow. I had a family. My father and my mother. " Haku began "My parents were farmers and they were very poor but we were happy, then everything changed. Because of something that happened before you and I were even born."

"What do you mean? What happened?" Ben asked out of curiosity.

"My father killed my mother and almost attempted to kill me." Haku said much to Ben's shock, "After years of suffering due to civil wars, the people of my land came to fear and hate anyone who carried a kekkei genkai."

"Kekkei Genkai?"

"It's an anomaly of the DNA that allows the wielder to use unique techniques. These powers are passed on through certain families, passed down from generation to generation. The families were exploited for all sorts of battles because of their powers and fearsome abilities. So after the wars were over, they hid their abilities, knowing that discovery meant death. If you were to search the memories of your clan, you would probably find this to."

Ben didn't know how to answer that question as he had powers for completely different reasons than Haku did.

"My mother hid her bloodline and married my father, but I accidently ended up revealing my abilities one day. " Haku began in a forlorn tone, explaining that how she ended up killing her father and his friends while instinctively defending herself from their assault. How she lost her purpose and no one wanted her. That Zabuza was the first one to acknowledge her.

"I am no longer a useful tool to Zabuza. Ben-kun...I want you...to kill me."

...xxxxx...xxxxx...xxxxxx...

Kakashi smirked under his mask as he rolled his scroll back up, slamming it on the ground he called out his jutsu, " **Ninja Art: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique !"**

Seals spread out from the point of impact, taking a life of their own as the ground began to tear up, indicating that something was moving underground.

"Whatever you're trying Kakashi, it's not going to work!" Zabuza said, knowing that whatever Kakashi was going to do was useless. "You can't figure out where I am. However, I now know where you are…what!"

"If your eyes don't work then just use your nose," Kakashi grinned confidently as he heard the sound of ground cracking.

The mist cleared and showed a complete immobilized Zabuza with several dogs latched onto them with their mouths. There was a giant bull dog latched onto his left shoulder, two dogs biting each of his legs, two dogs biting his thighs, one dog attached to his right wrist, another holding his large sword down by the hole at the end, and lastly, a small pug dug its sharp teeth off his headband.

"That's what happens when you keep your eyes closed in the mist," Kakashi commented, his tone smug and satisfied. "This technique is specifically designed for tracking down an opponent. I realized that if I couldn't see you, I would have to smell you. I let you through my guard , I wanted you to cut me so I could get my blood on your weapons which could lead my cute little ninja dogs to you. Their sense of smell far exceeds that of all other dogs. " Kakashi put a finger to his forehead as he closed his one normal eye. " Ah, the mist is finally clearing, and do you know what I see? I see your death."

"My future is death?" Zabuza asked, scoffing at the silver-haired Jonin and seemingly not the least bit worried. Though Kakashi could definitely see from the subtle changes in the man's demeanor that he felt otherwise, " Stop sprouting bullshit Kakashi!"

"Don't be foolish, with a single command my ninja hounds will tear you apart!" Kakashi said, his voice filled with cold fury, "You went too far, your ambitions were too great. You abandoned your country and became a missing ninja, story of your exploits even reached Konoha. Your attempted coup d'etat and your attempt to assassinate the Mizukage failed. You were forced to flee the country and become a missing ninja with what little followers you had. You realized that in order to try again, you would need money, and so you ended up working for scums like Gato."

Kakashi formed three hand signs, held up his right hand and grabbed his wrist. Lightning and chakra began gathering in his palm, crackling with repressed energy so potent it was visible.

 **"Raikiri."**

Zabuza felt a trickle of fear at seeing the lightning shooting from Kakashi's hand.

"You're too dangerous Zabuza," Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the nuke nin as he spoke. "Tazuna-san, the person you are trying to kill is this country's courage. The bridge he seeks to build is this country's hope. Your ambitions will sacrifice too many people. That's not what a shinobi would do."

"I don't give a shit about other people!" Zabuza growled as he tried to fight against the dogs hold on him, only to find their grip tightening even further and now he could not even bulge more than a few centimeters. "I have my own ideals and ambitions to fight for!"

"And that, Zabuza is why you will die," Kakashi said, his sharingan eye blazing.

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

Haku stood before Ben, waiting for the young Tennyson to deliver the final blow.

"Go on. Kill me, why do you hesitate?" Haku said, her voice devoid of emotions.

"Individuals who are truly evil make use of the people around them and prey on them. Those that look after the people around them still have some hope." Ben responded in a thoughtful tone, "Go back to those time where you were just an innocent girl living in a village, you don't need to sacrifice yourself for someone who uses you like a tool."

"I came too far to switch paths right now. " Haku smiled, "Zabuza-sama gave me a purpose and a reason to live. It doesn't matter if he considered me as nothing but a tool. What's important to me that...he made me feel special. He was the reason of my existence and...I failed him. Ben-kun, do it for both of our sake."

Ben cracked his knuckles. He still wasn't going to kill Haku but right now she was being all suicidal so he needed to do something before she pulled off some crazy stunt on her own. Knocking the living daylights out of her seemed like the best option.

At that moment, Kakashi charged at Zabuza, intent on ending the life of rogue swordsman. Sensing that her master was in danger, Haku immediately jumped on her feet, dodging the powerful jab Ben was about to land on her. Ben's eyes narrowed as he quickly took a few steps back, wondering whether she decided to fight back even if her body wasn't in the best condition.

"Forgive me, Ben-kun. I may be of some use to Zabuza-sama for one last time." Haku said before changing her focus to the ongoing battle between Kakashi and Zabuza as she started doing hand signs using one hand, simply disappearing with a body flicker.

Ben immediately caught the drift of her intentions , his enhanced eyesight allowing him to see through the dispersing but at the same time extremely thick mist, he could even see their unique chakra. He also noticed Kakashi rushing towards Zabuza while holding a mass of lightning chakra in his hand, intent on impaling him. His eyes were even able to catch up with Haku as he appeared between Kakashi and Zabuza, threw a couple of senbons at Kakashi's summoning scroll and turned towards the copy nin...

 _She said she wanted to help..her master! Wait a minute...She is going to attack Kakashi!_

Ben quickly dashed forward, something clicked inside of him as a cyan colored chakra shroud engulfed his body, radiating flickering flames as if his entire body was on fire. As if on a cue, Ben brought forth both of his palms, just as Kakashi was about to reach Zabuza and Haku.

"DON'T!" Ben yelled and with that, a wave of powerful repulsive force, akin to that of the gravity of this planet, hit all three of them at the same time. Kakashi had no idea what was going on as he was hit by an unstoppable force which knocked him off his feet and threw him on the ground with a loud bang, cracking a couple of stones in the process. Zabuza and Haku were thrown nearly towards the end of the bridge driven hard enough to bend a couple of railings. Kakashi's attack had dispersed thanks to this invisible force smacking onto him and his ninja dogs disappeared once they went airborne as Haku had already damaged the summoning scroll.

"Uh! What the hell was that?" Zabuza groaned in pain as he began to get up. Once he regained his bearing, he noticed Haku lying besides him, unconscious from the impact. Though the nuke nin quickly deduced that his apprentice was about to sacrifice herself for his sake before _that_ happened.

"Well, isn't that touching?" A new voice rang out, Filled with malice and sarcasm.

"Gato.." muttered Tazuna, his brow furrowing as he saw who it was.

It wasn't just Gato standing there though. Behind the short, businessman was an army of thugs, every single one of them armed with a weapon.

"I must say, that when I sent you two to kill the bridge-builder, I never knew how entertaining it would be," Gato said with a shrill laugh. I was just going to have you fight each other until you were all weak enough so that I could just send in my thugs to kill you all," He concluded, sneering at all present ninjas in front of him

"So you finally decided to show up, Pig." Ben growled

"Hmph! " Gatou grunted, "You must be the infamous beast I have heard so much about. You have been nothing but trouble ever since you showed up here. You should learn not to stick your nose in where it isn't wanted."

"Gato.. You bastard," Zabuza snarled as he turned to face the short man, his fists clenched in anger.

"What did you expect from a businessman?" Gato scoffed in response.

"This isn't business. This is treachery," Zabuza snarled in outrage.

"Hah! A ninja is angry at me? For treachery?!" Gato replied with a laugh, "You're killing me here with those jokes of yours!" The thugs behind him began to laugh, unaware they were basically about to commit suicide.

"Well, Kakashi, Brat! It seems like our fight is at an end." Zabuza said, unsheathing his gigantic sword once again, "I have no reason to kill Tazuna now."

"Seems that way" Kakashi replied in a crouch. The moment he noticed one of Ben's eyes, he nearly had a heart attack.

That was none other than famed Sharingan. He had no qualms about this after seeing the three tomoe inside Ben's left eye. However he couldn't recognize the other strange pattern surrounding it. But how could this possibly happen? As long as they were alive, Uchiha clan never ventured outside of Konoha apart from shinobi business.

Besides as far as he could tell Ben's bloodline limit seemed sort of physical nature, similar to Kaguya clan and such. And why Ben's Sharingan seemed so different at the same time, extremely potent compared to his. That didn't make sense at all.

He needed to talk with Ben in private once everything was over. ASAP

Meanwhile, with Gato's command, the thugs charged and what followed wasn't even worth of being called a battle. Kiri's demon started to stab, slash, jump, push and kick his way to the businessman. When people attempted to grab him from behind, Ben and Kakashi sped up their movements to provide cover. The thugs were never skilled enough to take on Ben and now with his enhanced eyesight, catching up to him became even more difficult. His eyes not only saw in greater detail but also predict their movements just based on slightest muscle tension in their body. Something, Kakashi took a note off. He knocked out his opponents while Kakashi and Zabuza weren't that forgiving, just flat out murdering anyone who dared to come at them with weapons. Soon the remaining mercenaries abandoned their employer, running for their lives as Gato was cornered by the famed demon ninja.

Gatō begged, pleaded, and bargained for his measly life. Attempted every trick in the dirty, underhanded book, in order to refuse and escape his fate. Everyone stood in complete and utter shock, The hulking nuke nin ripped his head apart like a watermelon, He didn't raise it high and declare that the people of the Wave were free; .One of his hands lifted up his gigantic blade and slashed apart Gatou's remains with a single swing. Then he dropped them in the water below.

His head followed soon after. The waterways he ruled became his final resting place. It wasn't heroic, but it was the closest possible thing to a happy ending. It was brutal, savage and graphic. However, People of Wave wouldn't have had it other way. The man deserved to be punished beyond death, For the atrocities he committed , The way he terrorized them , This was the sort of end he deserved. He needed to be butchered like the pig he was.

And as for Team 7, This truly was a C rank to remember.

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

 **Next time- Benjamin Uchiha Tennyson?**


	9. Chapter 9

_"Hn...What did I die?"_ Naruto asked himself before he heard someone calling out his name, _"Wait...Old man? Am I?"_ Naruto's eyes slowly opening as Tazuna looked at him with a smug and satisfied grin.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Gaki!" The old bridge builder greeted.

"What happened?" Naruto said as he got up and composed himself, only to fall back on the ground when he saw Zabuza and Kakashi walking amongst the fallen forms of Gatou's men, chit chatting with each other as if they were old friends. While stood awkwardly off to the side, just watching. Thankfully, Sasuke was up as well, groaning in pain every time he moved as Sakura helped him getting back on his feet but his eyes remained transfixed on Ben, giving him a really strange look. While his right eyed remained complete unknown, that wasn't case for other one. For some odd reason he found Ben's left eye vaguely familiar but couldn't place where he had seen or heard about it before

"Old man! Are you seeing what I am seeing?" Naruto dumbfounded as he rubbed his eyes multiple times. There was no way in hell this was happening in real.

"We won. Apparently, Gato decided that Zabuza cost too much and hired a bunch of thugs to take out all of us." Tazuna chuckled, "Bastard learn the hard way street thugs can't match up to super skilled ninjas."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, his brain unable to process all the information at the same time, " What the...? It can't be real."

"I dunno much about that Gaki and I had no idea what actually take place inside the battle. But there was something up with Ben's eyes...they said he has a doujutsu like your sensei."

"What? Ben has..."

"Hey guys look! " Tazuna called out , " The blonde brat is up!" Kakashi, Ben and the rest members of Team 7 quickly turned to them, a brief look of relief flashing in their eyes after learning that Naruto turned out to be completely alright for the most part.

" Naruto-nii chan! I came back" another voice called out. They all turned around only to see Inari standing there with all the villagers, holding a small crossbow. The rest of them were also carrying objects like Pitches, clubs, shovels and even fishing spears.

 _"Naruto-nii chan!"_ Ben dumbfounded, his jaw literally dropping on the floor anime style. Since when did these two started getting along so well?

"This is..." Naruto began with shock. Pride welling up inside him as he saw how a crybaby like Inari had managed to rally the entire village to stand up to Gatou.

"Sorry, it looks like we were a bit late." Inari said with an embarrassed smile.

Naruto chuckled as he jumped back on his feet and walked towards Inari, slightly patting his head, "Don't worry about it, it was nothing we couldn't handle."

As the blonde ninja joined the villagers basked in post flight excitement, he forgot about the rather familiar looking girl standing with Zabuza. A group of two and three helped with carrying Sakura and Sasuke home. Fortunately both of them weren't injured that much. Most of the senbons either lodged in their ribs or missed any major arteries which would have made them bleed out, which meant they would be up and running in less then a week.

Ben could feel the invisible battle line draw between him, Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku. Even though the group had worked together , there really wasn't a whole lot of trust going on here. Which wasn't a big surprise considered the fact that they were doing their best to eliminate each other just an hour ago.

"What are your plans?" Kakashi asked offhandedly

Zabuza grunted, "An organization like that won't disappear overnight just because we killed the guy who used to run the things. It might take a while...but they will sort out who is next in line to take over...eventually. We still have business with them."

"I guess a good assassination makes the negotiations much easier." Ben remarked dryly.

Instead of responding with words, Zabuza just grinned, taking off his bandages all of a sudden and showcasing his really really white and sharp teeth. Which was kinda unnerving. Making him wonder if Zabuza was even a fully human in the first place

"Very well, " Kakashi said, " if that's the case..."

"Your bridge builder is safe." Zabuza shrugged, rolling his eyes in annoyance, "We won't come up against any of you again. I am done taking stuffing around requests and bullshit. Shoulda dealt with the bastard in my way from the very beginning."

Haku responded with a gracious bow, "We won't trouble you again."

"Well, we are staying here till the bridge is finished." Kakashi said, half as a way of offering truce, half as a warning of sorts.

"The bloodline purge...how did that started? and why the Mizukage started doing it in the first place?" Ben spoke out of curiosity as he turned to Zabuza.

Zabuza paused a moment before responding with a glare "Kiri has a long history of civil wars...as the wielders of Kekkei genkai...like Haku's ice release and your various abilities were often used as living weapons ...to a far greater degree than any other ninjas and striked fear in their enemy's hearts. Yagura and many other people from land of water, came to see them as demons who brought nothing war and suffering them. After the wars were over, in an effort to prevent further tragedies , he ordered the slaughter of all those who hold bloodlines." He concluded with a frown.

"That's bullshit. This Yagura dude sounds like a madman who needs to be stopped." Ben gritted his teeth in frustration and anger.

"Of course, That's why I am trying to get rid of him in the first place. That's the only way to save my homeland" Zabuza calmly responded, sharply narrowing down his eyes, " Beast-chan , I will offer you a friendly advice out of respect. The wave might be an isolated island for now but eventually words of your exploits will reach the ears of the Mizukage. And once that happens, the tyrant will leave no stone unturned in order to kill you."

"Huh? You gotta be kidding me. Hatake-san! Is that kind of thing a common occurrence in the ninja world?" Ben asked as he turned to Kakashi.

"No...but assassination and kidnapping of those with Kekkei Genkai is are common. They are powerful assets and dangerous enemies." Kakashi said, "I hope you will keep it under wraps as much as you can."

Zabuza eyed him for a second longer than shrugged, a maniacal grin forming on his face, "Of course, I would hate to see such incredible weapon go to waste. In fact, I wouldn't mind teaching him a thing or two incase he agrees to come along. The fun is about to start afterall."

 _An hour ago, he felt like an asshole. today he is making me fear for my asshole._

"I will pass." Ben scoffed in annoyance, "But let me tell you this, you gotta start treating Haku better. She respects and cares you about so much that when she lost to me, she asked me to kill you, just because she thought her loss meant she was of no further use to you..." The swordsman stared at him before looking at Haku, an unrecognisable look flashing in his eyes, "At first I couldn't stand how someone as kind and loyal as her would give her life for someone like you...but after hearing all this makes me think that there more to you than all this "Demon of the Hidden Mist" thing."

"Cheeky brat!" Zabuza chuckled softly, "You have made it on my Bingo book. I will keep an eye on you."

Kakashi grinned. Off handed as it might have been, but you couldn't deny it was a complement.

Ben turned to Haku with a smile, "Well, If you are going to stay here as well. You can visit us, make friends around your age."

"I...that might not be a good idea. We did attack you after all." Haku said gently.

Ben sighed, "That's all water under the bridge. Besides Gato was the real bad guy and we took him out. We can all be friends now."

"Friends?" Haku smiled tentatively, pink hue adorning her cheeks, "I would like that."

And just like that, The silver haired jonin and the young Tennyson, leaving the nuke nin and his apprentice to fend for themselves.

Zabuza looked at his apprentice before casting a careless shrug, " Ever since the battle inside that dome of ice mirrors, you have this odd glow about you." He put up quotation marks when he said glow, "From what I understand, that only happens when a girl becomes a woman."

"W-we haven't done anything like that..." Haku responded in a snappish voice, blushing a bit at the implication

"Well well, looks like your claws are out today." Zabuza said, hiding his surprise with a laugh, " I don't think you have ever snapped at me unless I got myself injured."

"I am sorry Zabuza-sama!"

"Meh, it's fine. Now let's go. I think a few of my ribs are broken."

...xxxxxxx...xxxxx...

After making sure that they were far away from the rogue Kiri nin and his apprentice, Kakashi called out to Ben getting his attention.

"Ben, What exactly happened in that dome? "

The Ultimatrix bearer began explaining the details of his fight, albeit minus the code and alien part, "So, when Haku managed to trap you, you blacked out and when you woke up, you had those eyes?"

Ben lightly tapped on his chest and the color of his eyes changed once again, however the scarlet dots on his forehead were missing this time as he was using his " **Ultimate Human"** form to channel the alien's ability , "It felt like I knew where she was going to be next, as if everything was moving in a slow motion. That's why I was able to overcome her with such ease." Ben concluded as he turned to Kakashi with a raised eyebrow, "Do you know what both of my eyes are?"

"I don't recognize the dojutsu in your right eye. However your left eye feels a bit similar to my Sharingan. I can't tell for sure why both of your eyes carry different dojutsu though it's not unheard for children of mixed parentage to only awakening the dojutsu in only one eye."

"That's strange." Ben said with bemused expression. He wasn't expecting something like that to happen. Perhaps that had to something with the friend of Professor Paradox he met earlier. But why did he want him to have this transformation in particular? That didn't make sense at all.

"Indeed...Ben, You should know that Dojutsu are coveted by the villages...it would be bad for Konoha if word got out about your eyes."

"Geez! Don't fret. I can take care of myself." Ben said confidently, "deactivating" his transformation

"Still it would be better if you officially begin your ninja training as soon as possible. Just so you can defend yourself properly." The sharingan wielder spoke in a serious tone.

"I know." Ben let out a sigh, "Are you sure your village won't have any problem taking me in? From what I heard, This Yagura bastard can still send people after me."

Kakashi smiled, patting Ben on the shoulders, "You don't have to worry about that. Konoha's feelings on Kekkei Genkai are pretty much opposite Kiri's and Lord Hokage trusts my judgement. Besides if he didn't say yes, Naruto would never let him live that down."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"It's hard to explain but Naruto has a great bond with Hokage, he is kind of like a grandson to him from what I've seen." Kakashi said with an eye smile

"Fine, It's not like I have anything to lose at this point." Ben chuckled.

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...

The Team 7 still had a week to go before the bridge was complete, however with Gatou dead and Zabuza and Haku confirmed to be not a threat anymore there wasn't really much for them to do. As both Sasuke and Sakura were still recovering from their injuries, Naruto was the only one left for Kakashi to train. The silver haired jonin had began instructing him on water walking exercise since he had already gotten the tree walking down . And even with his absurd stamina, he was running slightly ragged with the increase in difficulty. One of Ben's duplicates occasionally joined in

While Kakashi wanted Sasuke to rest , he wouldn't listen so he ended up giving him some target practise exercise to increase the efficiency of his newly awakened Sharingan, though as he feared, the Uchiha ended up working on water walking anyways. As he couldn't stand left behind by Naruto of all people.

Meanwhile Ben was busy dealing with a personal task of his own. He talked to Tazuna about making an orphanage for the children he often saw wandering on the streets. . Since he was the first official hero of the village everyone wanted to help him out but Ben insisted that all they had to was to get him supplies. Ben had used both his super fast aliens and the ability of **Echo Echo** to produce ungodly amount of duplicates to build the orphanage himself. He had also managed to appoint some kind hearted child less labourers as the caretakers of this place, with Tsunami being the head administrator. And whenever he had free time, he spend it reading contents from the book Kakashi gave or practising the real **Clone Jutsu** which was finally taught to him by Kakashi.

Despite he didn't mean it, Zabuza crossed paths with him many time. Gato apparently liked to horde his power so there was no clear cut inheritor. There was a lot of infighting going on. Albeit through blackmailing and politicking. Which towards everyone's annoyance put the organization in a state of limbo, unable to go either way. Thankfully Tazuna gave him locations of some of the known safehouses of Gatou, allowing him to syphon a decent amount of money

Since Sakura wasn't batshit crazy with training as other two, she went to the bridge with Ben's duplicate or helped out a bit in the village.

Things were a bit tense when Haku showed up for the first time, but after learning about the bloodline purge and how her mother was murdered by her father and her father in turn died when she instinctively tried to defend herself everyone couldn't help but sympathise with her. Especially Sasuke. He had been hearing about the exploits of bloodthirsty Mizukage ever since they arrived here and he already hear what "happened " to Ben but after learning what happened to Haku, he felt shaken to his very core. He had been always told by his late father that having the blood of an Uchiha, the Sharingan, made him special but to see that how people like Haku and Ben were demonised by the Kiri just for having this abilities...almost made him petrified.

Besides, she was warm, friendly and calm and polite, and she hadn't _hurt_ anyone, not seriously anyways.

Even Sakura had warmed up to her and she was the most angry about how this wrench hurt her beloved Sasuke-kun!

Haku bonding with Ben and Naruto made Kakashi a bit wary and Zabuza a whole lot annoyed , yelling about keeping the village secrets but none of them seemed to mind overly much. Ben even managed to goad her into teaching them **Hidden Mist Jutsu** and her improvised version of **Water Clone Jutsu** **.**

Now that was a Jutsu which interested Ben. It was definitely annoying as hell if you didn't have an inbuilt sonar but incredibly useful for attack purposes. Unfortunately he was still limited to produce a light mist surrounding the garden, while Naruto could practically smother people using it. Ben could do the same but he had to use his "special eyes" transformation for that, which he now called **Nephilim.** As Naruto didn't share the luxury of transforming in Wildmutt he had to figure out on his own about how to navigate in it...

Ha! Sasuke would stand no chance against him then, even with his magical eyes.

Also for the first time in his life, Naruto understood what Sasuke had to suffer through while the horde of girls proclaimed their love for him. Which made him begrudgingly respect his rival a little bit. Ever since it had been know that he was the one to single handedly beat up Gatou's elite bodyguards and took part in the so called battle of the bridge , defending Tazuna from the scary water clone, the people here began staring at him in awe. Often whispering how strong and cool he was. Many of the girls would blush and giggle as he passed on the streets , tossing shy waves at him and few of the bolder ones even began asking for dates. While he remained faithful to his Sakura-chan, this did made him wonder about a thing or two.

At the end of the week the bridge, with more help from Naruto's clones and Ben's countless duplicates. Now all the people of Wave were there, not only to celebrate the completion of the bridge but also to see off heroes of the wave.

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...

"Thanks to you guys we have finally finished the bridge, but do you really have to go soon? Especially you Ben." Tazuna said with a large smileas he placed a hand on Inari who looked like he was about to cry.

They along with the entire population of land of waves were standing next to the now complete bridge. This also included Naruto's very own fanclub who had tried to mob his shadow clone when he was running an errand for Tsunami. The knucklehead ninja only took a glance at the horde of girls holding up signs proclaiming their love for him before looking away with a shiver.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi replied with his erotica novel out as usual, " Until Ben-kun officially becomes a shinobi within Konoha he is fair game for Kiri. We must leave the place incase the bloodline extermination squad led by Raiga Kurosaki caught the drift of Gatou's death "

Ben moved over to Inari, kneeling down as he ruffed the kid's hair, giving him a large grin, "Don't worry, I will be back to visit sometimes."

Inari sniffled as his eyes as tears threatened to spill, "Promise?"

Ben chuckled a bit as he held his pinky out to the small kid, "Of course, you are not getting rid of me that easily. "

Inari looked up at the pinky for a while before he brought up his own and shook it with.

"You are going to get lonely, aren't you?" Naruto teased, albeit he began weiling up as well.

"I am not going to cry. I am now strong like big brother." Inari grinned with watery eyes "You can cry though."

"Oh yeah!" Naruto sniffled, "Well...see ya!"

Naruto then swiftly turned around as tears began falling from his eyes like a waterfall. Inari cried like a waterfall now that Naruto wasn't looking. Ben just sweatdropped at witnessing how stubborn both kids could be. Reminding him of how his relationship with Gwen was used to.

 _Geez! Was I really that bad?_

Depending on his reaction when he thought Gwen died on Azmuth's planet many years ago, HELL YEAH.

"MARRY ME NARUTO-KUN!" The entire group of newly created Naruto fan club shouted, the blonde immediately froze in fear as Sasuke gave him a sympathetic glance and jumped over the newly completed bridge. Running far away from this place as much as possible

Ben had to hold in a wince from hearing all these voices shouting at once, clearly remembering that it wasn't that bad when he first arrived in the village. He was now glad for the first time having Harangue in his life. Thanks him constantly spouting nonsense about him, his popularity never went over the roof.

All of sudden he felt a rather cold hand on his shoulders, causing him to turn around. When he did, he was surprised to learn who came to see him off.

"Haku?"

The Ice bending ninja smiled as she handed over a rather large scroll to Ben, "This might be the last time we are seeing each other so Zabuza-sama wanted you to have this."

"What's in it?" Ben dumbfounded, blinking in confusion, Hack, even Kakashi was surprised at this point.

"A parting gift. That's what he said." Haku said with a wistful smile.

"Well, thanks for this thing but let me assure you and Mr Mochi, We are totally going to see each other again. So don't be so sad about it!"

Sasuke shrugged, Haku's talk about protecting people and living for your dreams almost made him oddly pensive and considering for a bit. Letting out a sigh, he turned to Ben and Zabuza's apprentice.

"Who knows what will happen in the future? " He paused for a moment, staring at the reflection of his own sharingan as his eyes wandered to the memory of witnessing Ben's own Dojutsu and how his left eye seemed quite familiar, "Regardless, I have learnt a lot."

"So have I." Haku smiled as she brought her hand and vanished with simple a body flicker jutsu. The four ninjas and young Tennyson said their final goodbyes as well, starting a long trek down the bridge to reach the mainland.

"That blonde brat put courage in Inari's heart." Tazuna smiled, "But it was Ben who brought back hope in our lands and taught us to believe in the heroes once again. Which confirmed Inari's courage and allowed him to change people's hearts."

"How about the Great Maelstrom Tennyson Bridge? " Tsunami offered her own two bits. Naruto's last name did mean Maelstrom and the mention of the Ben fit well together. The smiles from the others told her they agreed as well.


	10. Chapter 10

After walking for a few hours, Team 7 decided to call it a day and set up a small camp, as everyone sat around the campfire Ben was the first one to start a conversation

"Forgive me for my lack of knowledge about ninja villages, Kiri is the only one I am somewhat familiar about. So you said Konoha treats Kekkei Genkai as valuable?"

"That's right, according to the first hokage of our village, every true konoha shinobi must love, believe, cherish and fight for the village's sake. Bloodlines are seen as a valuable tool which allows the shinobis possessing them to protect the village better than everyone else, thus they are seen in a much favorable light. In contrast with Kiri where they are seen as bringer of war and misery." Kakashi explained

 _I refuse to believe that Konoha is some sort of Utopia for people from parallel dimensions to settle in, every place has their own share of demons to deal with. Hack! even plumbers had their hands full with the likes of Rooters and Phil_

"Ha! Don't worry about it Ben. Old man will surely help you out." Naruto assured him confidently.

"Tennyson!" Sasuke's voice was heard first time since they left the wave. It surprised Ben a bit, considering that they never really talked much in the first place.

Both Sakura and Naruto blinked at hearing his tone. Sasuke seemed a bit more respectful towards him than usual and this wasn't the way he used to speak with Ben before. However Kakashi quickly realized why the Uchiha heir seemed so behaving that way, Sasuke knew that Ben was stronger than him thanks to his mastery over various abilities provided by his bloodline limit. But learning that he might be wielding some sort of enhanced Sharingan alongside another unknown powerful doujutsu...he couldn't help but feel a bit curious about Ben's abilities.

Stretching his arms with a yawn, Ben responded nonchalantly.

"Oh, Is there anything I can do for you buddy?"

"What happened during the battle between you and Haku?" Sasuke asked, Ben closed his eyes for a bit, taking a long breath.

"Isn't it obvious? I won but I guess that's not the answer you are looking for."

 _His left eye..I saw that in my Father's journal but I can't remember what that was about._

Sasuke's eyes sharply narrowed down for a moment before he continued further, "That girl said you used your doujutsu to beat her, How?"

"Well, after I went through the transformation, I gained significant physical boost. My vision improved by leaps and bounds. I could see and perceive things on cellular level, hack I could even see veins inside everyone's body and the color of their chakra. I could also sense people and tell them apart as if I was in touch with nature or something like that. I think I just overwhelmed her through my sheer speed and physical strength."

"That wasn't all." Kakashi said, " You also used something on the bridge when Haku was about to sacrifice herself and trap me in a deadlock."

"What did he do?" Sasuke inquired, wanting to learn about new power of Ben's doujutsu

"He sent out a powerful wave of force, sending all three of us flying in the air. It was incredibly strong, not even me or Zabuza had no idea how to defend ourselves against something like that." Kakashi said, turning to Ben at the last part. Sasuke's hands clenched and he gritted his teeth frustration, This Ben...he truly possessed a very powerful doujutsu. He might even give Itachi's Mangekyo a run of money with those eyes.

"Wow!" Sakura gasped at hearing Kakashi's explanation, "That sounds really cool. How did you do that Ben-kun?"

"I acted purely on instinct and somehow managed to access that power." Ben responded after a brief pause, now that he thought about it, that seemed a lot like the devastating attractive and repulsive gravitational forces he could control through using his Galilean alter ego **Gravattack .** One of his most fearsome transformations which allowed him to manipulate the weight and motion of objects, allowing him to suspend and levitate targets in the air, send them flying back or fourth, or slam them down to the ground with hand gestures. His control over gravity was refined to the point , where he could change direction of a target moving at high speeds , telekinetically send it flying upwards or across the air as if it was falling. Reduce the speed of a creature moving at the speed of light to nothing, such abuse of laws of general relativity could generate a black hole though, if he wasn't careful when using that.

 _They might be already viewing me as a military asset. I need to be very careful about how I act in front of these ninjas. I can't let them find out about more of my abilities then they already have._

"I can't seem to do it at will for the time being. So even I don't have any real idea how I managed to pull that off."

"Huh, that's not how doujutsus are supposed to work." Sasuke interjected turning to copy nin.

"It's hard to say. Perhaps you were overwhelmed by the genetic memory of your doujutsu similar to what happened with Haku during that incident at her village." Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, "Well, I am quite curious about your bloodline as well. Perhaps Lord Hokage will be able to shed some light on this matter."

Ben shook his head, glancing at the campfire.

 _I hope this decision of joining Konoha doesn't bite me in the arse someday._

 _...xxxxxx...xxxxxxx..._

The trip back to Konoha was relatively short while travelling with ninja speed, compared to the week it took for Tazuna to travel. That put the overall mission time to a month. Soon the huge wooden gates which surrounded Konoha loomed over the horizon. As the team 7 stood before the gate to Konoha, Sakura and Naruto began jabbering excitedly about their home. They had been gone for a long time and seemed happy to finally make it back to their home. The bustling streets filled with people and with all sorts of shops lined up, it was quite different experience after he had been in the land of waves for last couple of months. Konoha truly looked like a prosperous town.

He also noticed the Hokage mountain which briefly reminded him of Mt Rushmore back home. Four faces depicting four different generations of the village leaders.

"Alright team! we have successfully fulfilled the mission." Kakashi said

"You have exceeded my expectations, all four of you. Especially you Naruto, even though you don't excel at certain ninja aspects, your growth and determination are impossible to ignore. You left the academy as the dead last of your class and now you return as a respectable shinobi of Konoha If you continue progressing like this, you'll be a stupendous hokage someday, I am sure of it."

Naruto grinned so wide that his eyes were squinting, " Thank you sensei! It means a lot to me."

"Sakura and Sasuke, your battle against a superior opponent not only the depth of your strength but commitment as well. Not only that, Sasuke, you also awakened your sharingan in this mission. You truly honor the name of Uchiha and Sakura, you showed a lot of potential as well, with a bit more hard work and proper guidance, you will be a fine kunoichi in the future."

Sakura scratched her cheek, beaming at her sensei's praise while Sasuke just crossed his arms and looked away, presumably uninterested. Though Ben could see a ghost of smile appearing on his face, even if it only lasted for a second.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! can we go? I wanna find Iruka-sensei and get some Ichiraku." Naruto looked up to the silver haired jounin in anticipation.

Ben sighed in relief at hearing this, he had already skipped breakfast twice in the row, if anything, he just wanted to eat like a shameless pig today. No doubts about that.

"Sure, go ahead. You three are free for the day. I have gotta take Ben here to Sandaime so we can get the approval for him to join our village." Kakashi replied placing a hand on Ben's shoulder, happily ignoring the displeased look on the young Tennyson's face.

"I will take care of the report and get your guys pay slip mailed to you. Ja ne"

And just like that, Kakashi made a single hand sign, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Leaving three very confused genins behind.

"I wonder what Hokage-jiji-chan wants to ask Ben?"

"Why would I know that, dobe?"

"Wasn't talking to you in the first place, Teme!"

"Stop bothering Sasuke-kun, Naruto-Baka!"

...xxxx...xxxxxx...xxxxxx...

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, also known as the Professor and God of Shinobi, for all his battle prowess and mastery over various kind of ninjutsu, sat at his desk, engaged in a never ending battle with the most persistent enemy a Kage must face in his day to day life...paperwork. While it wasn't as bad as many liked to believe, it still took up a lot of his time.

"Lord Hokage! " An Anbu wearing Hawk mask entered in his chambers.

"Yes, What is the matter?" Hiruzen raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Hatake Kakashi has returned with a bloodline user who wants to join our village." The old man's eyes widened at hearing that, the strange bloodline user from land of water with a mysterious doujutsu, the one Kakashi spoke so highly about in his report had finally arrived in Konoha.

"I see, ...send them in." Hiruzen ordered as he leaned back in his chair, hands clasped on the desk, giving the Anbu okay to let the duo enter

Had it not been for his experiences with Gwen's teleportation spells, Ben would have fell to the ground on his lower back instead of regaining his footing after a minor disorientation spell. Methods like this were sure convenient and time -saving but they were awkward as hell and made him a little sick. That's Ben never bothered learning teleportation spells. The old man wearing a solid wide triangular hat with a diamond shaped white patch on which the symbol of fire was clearly visible looked up from his position and gave them a kind smile.

"Ah, Kakashi! You have finally returned from the wave country. And this must be the young lad you kept mentioning in your reports."

"Yes Hokage-sama! This is Tennyson Ben and he possesses a kekkei genkai which would boggle even a Kami!"

Kakashi nodded with a respectful bow while Ben gave Hiruzen a puzzled look as he strode out behind his desk and walked over to him as if to better take his appearance. He made one round trip around the confused species shifter before stopping and offering his hand to him with a light chuckle.

"Indeed. I am Sarutobi Hiruzen. Third Hokage of Village hidden in leaves. "

Ben grasped the old man's hands with a smile of his own, noticing that despite his age the old man had quite the grip, "My name is Tennyson Ben. Thank you for granting me asylum in your village."

The old man laughed heartily, "Well, I didn't expect you to have manners. After reading Kakashi's reports I thought you would be just like Naruto."

Ben blinked, even though Kakashi did indeed mention that Hokage treated him as a sort of adopted grandson, this was still a bit too much to take in, " How well do you know Naruto?"

"Ha! That little troublemaker is here everyday of the week if they are not doing any missions." Sarutobi smiled jovially, causing Ben to chuckle a bit. The old man might be the most powerful ninja of this village but he could feel a sense of respect and warmth from him and his instincts were rarely wrong in regards of situations. like that.

"Now apart from your other unique abilities...you also have awakened a doujutsu that Kakashi couldn't identify." Hiruzen said in a serious tone while Ben just nodded in response.

"Oh, Would you like to take a look at my eyes?" Ben spoke out in a casual tone.

"If that's not too much of a hassle." Hiruzen said with a smile. "Well, let's see it then." Ben closed his eyes and brought his hands together to his chest, a faint glow engulfed his body and when he opened his eyes, they were changed into two different set of doujutsus. However both Hiruzen and Kakashi could tell that wasn't the only thing changed about him. His chakra which seemed completely normal a few moments ago now eclipse both of theirs combined. The Third Hokage gasped, his eyes wide as he looked at each of his eyes, unable to believe the sight before him.

"That, I ...can't believe it."

"What is it Lord Hokage? You know what they are?" Kakashi who was already very much curious about the nature of Ben's doujutsu turned to him.

"Your right eye is a variant of Mangekyo Sharingan. An advanced form of the Sharingan that has only been activated by a handful of Uchiha. They are noted to be the "heavenly eyes that see the truth of all of creation without obstruction." The Hokage replied surprising both of them, especially Kakashi, "Usage of the Mangekyō Sharingan's abilities can cause a great strain on the user. It drains a considerable amount of chakra when simply activating and maintaining the advanced dōjutsu, and even more through each technique used. Even more, it can cause considerable damage to their being, leaving the body in agonising pain and causing deterioration to their vision until eventually over-usage leaves them blind. Their vision can be restored by transplanting the Mangekyō Sharingan of an Uchiha with strong blood ties — thus awakening Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. No longer suffering any negative side-effects from using them, even reducing chakra-draining to an unnoticeably minimal level . Which you have in your left eye. "

"The same eyes, Madara Uchiha possesed...are you sure, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked.

"I am sure." Hiruzen nodded as he sat behind his desk again.

Ben looked slightly confused, "Wait, what was so special about this Madara guy?" he asked, not understanding why they were making such a big deal out of just a single transformation of his.

"Madara Uchiha, supposedly one of the most powerful shinobi to ever live, apart from Hashirama Senju, founder of this village. He was the legendary leader of the Uchiha clan. He founded Konohagakure alongside his rival, Hashirama Senju, with the intention of beginning an era of peace. When the two couldn't agree on how to achieve that peace, they fought for control of the village, a conflict which ended in Madara's death. The eyes you have are indeed one of the most powerful bloodlines in existence"

A grin grew across Ben's face, "Really! I knew my new t..eyes were awesome."

"This is no laughing matter child!" Hiruzen interrupted, "If the word of you possessing the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan reaches the other villages or..certain individuals. They will stop at nothing to kill or capture you." That caused Ben to hold his breath for a moment, his eyes widening in surprise at how different the Hokage seemed from before, "Kakashi, the fact that this young lad possesses the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is an S rank secret from now onwards. Make sure that your team doesn't utter a single word about it outside. " Kakashi nodded.

"I understand very well Lord Hokage." Kakashi said, "But what about his right eye..."

"Unfortunately, I don't know about the nature of his right eye. It seems like a complex and powerful doujutsu but I haven't heard about it's existence before. in my shinobi career. However if Ben-kun permits me to make a copy of it to examine it in greater detail, A student of mine might be able to help. He has a tendency to come across such unusual things every now and then." Hiruzen spoke again

"Sure , why not?" Ben replied without hesitation. If them being fixated on one of his transformations meant he didn't have go in details about the Ultimatrix, he really didn't mind. The Hokage gave him a comforting smile and walked back to his desk, taking out a piece of paper. He placed it on the top of Ben's forehead and started going through a couple of hand signs. The parchment glowed and a picture of Ben's right eye emerged on it.

"The jutsu I used have copied the finer details about your right eye, lines and patterns that are too small to be seen by the naked eye and a small sample of your chakra as well. With this, your doujutsu can be studied closely, without missing a single detail. " Hokage explained as he presented him with a similar headband members of team 7 wore, " Here, make sure to wear this Hitai-ate while you are in village, otherwise you will be asked a lot of questions. You are not a known face around here and this is a ninja village so people here are understandably a bit vary of the strangers. With this, they will understand you belong in the village and hopefully leave you alone."

Ben took the headband with a word of thanks and tied it around his shoulder, making sure that the stylized leaf symbol was obvious and visible.

"Now, Ben-kun you may leave for now. My ANBU outside will drop you at Ichiraku Ramen and if I am not wrong, Naruto will be most likely there. I am sure he would love showing your around the village." Ben just bowed in response, not having much to say. He quickly left, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Lord Hokage I..."

"I know what you are going to ask me Kakashi." Hiruzen replied in a stern manner as he assumed his original position on the chair, "And I still think it's not a good idea."

"You are going to say this even after knowing..."

"It's not that I don't have faith in your teaching abilities and I am not going to blame you for how this mission turned out to be." Hiruzen mused, " However with Sasuke possessing Sharingan, your team is already going to be a huge target for other villages and most likely my wayward student. If you add Ben to this, it's a recipe of disaster."

"I agree with you Hokage-sama." Kakashi spoke out in a calm and composed manner, "But I am the only who can bring out his true potential and it will be a great help for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura as well."

"We won't be able to keep this under wraps for a long time so if you don't want me to put him under a Tokubetsu Jounin, You have to up your game and start teaching something to your students for real." Hiruzen responded with a mild glare.

"Don't worry Lord Hokage! I won't disappoint you this time around."


	11. Chapter 11

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...

The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku looked into the great spherical crystal before it, eyes narrowed and webbed hands moving in a rhythmic motion. Through squinted eyes the Great Toad Sage observed Ben Tennyson walking entering inside Konoha through large wooden gates . "The times are changing."

"What do you mean, Ojiji Sama?" Gamabunta regarded the revered toad patiently. "What do you see?"

"See for yourself, child. Look into the sphere and tell me what you see?"

The Toad Chief did as told and beheld the crystal with trepidation. " An odd child walking with Minato's only alive student, Kakashi Hatake."

"Oh, but he is far more than that, Gamabunta…"

"Why would I have any idea about a random kid...the symbol on his chest...it's the same one from the mysterious bracelet _his brother_ used to wear. The one with the souls of ten thousand creatures" the chieftain added.

The Great Toad Sage gave a jarring, senile laugh. "I believe this boy to be the one _he_ told me would one day come wielding the eyes of mystic reincarnation and he would one day shoulder the fate of the world with it, and guide the Child of Prophecy to the light that would dispel the impending darkness. "

"Who is _he_ , Ojiji Sama?" Gamabunta asked. "Do you mean to say this one is the Divine Moon Sage? But I thought-"

"As did I, Gamabunta, but I have dreamt of this child. I have seen glimpses of what lies ahead of him and I cannot shake this odd feeling. I have not felt like this for centuries," the Great Toad Sage shared cryptically.

"This isn't a good news." Gamabunta swelled, his voice filled with a bit of concern and fear of sort "When the one who is sent down from heavens to become a god of creation, the child of prophecy, who is supposed to calm the world becomes corrupted by the darkness and hatred of humanity, transforming into a destroyer hellbent onto reducing everything into nothingness. The divine moon sage appears to restore the order and aid the new chosen one... "

"You are right, Gamabunta," the squinting toad whispered tiredly. " The road ahead will be long and arduous. No matter what species we are or what clan we belong to. We must seek to understand and help one another before it is too late . "

"I understand, Ojiji Sama," Gamabunta said and looked at the crystal sphere once more. "I will inform Jiraiya right away."

...xxxxxx...xxxx...xxxxxx...

Soon enough, Ben found himself wandering in the streets of konoha. Surprisingly Zabuza left him with a lot of funds to work with and he had to admit despite the apparent dislike he had for the demon swordsman, couldn't help but feel grateful about that. The pay he received from Tazuna wasn't much considering they were still very much short of funds. He tried looking around for the sign of Ichiraku ramen amongst many stores as the escorting ANBU said the ramen stand was right there but he still couldn't find it. He looked up at the cloudless sky, it was about lunch time, if he couldn't find the said ramen stand in time...

 _The dango shop doesn't look half bad, may be I can..._

"Hey! Ben!"

The young hero turned at hearing the familiar voice and saw Naruto waving his hands at him with a cheerful smile, walking alongside him was a young man around his original age with a scar running across the bridge of his nose.

"Hi, Naruto!"

Ben replied jovially, he was both confused and irritated at the sight of the villagers looking at them with disgust and hurry off somewhere. As if Naruto was some sort of demon. Sure Kakashi did tell him that Naruto was hated by the villagers but he really wasn't expecting the situation to be this bad. It didn't make sense for a child to be treated this way in his own village, especially one as peaceful as Konoha. Thanks to him channeling the abilities of his loboan alter ego Blitzwolfer he managed to overhear some whispers of "Fox boy" and other similar names from the villagers.

 _I don't get it. Did his family do something he is being blamed for? And why are they calling him the fox-brat and ...Jinchuuriki? I must get to the bottom of it._

"Hey, Ben!" Naruto grinned, "What did Jiji and Kakashi-sensei want you for?"

"Didn't you hear the news?" Ben chuckled as he held up the hitai ate which was around his shoulders, 'I have been officially inducted as a ninja of Konoha. "

"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, "I really hope you can replace Sasuke."

"Don't get your hopes up." The young man around Ben's original age sighed, "They will surely make your team a four men cell, it wasn't that uncommon during my genin days."

"Ah, well." Naruto shrugged, he clearly seemed disappointed at that though, "Still it will be cool having you there with me and Sakura-chan!' He then called out to young man in an enthusiastic tone, "Iruka-sensei! can Ben come with us?"

"Why not?" Iruka grinned as he stuck out his hand which Ben gently shook, "Naruto told me how you stood up against Zabuza and his companion Ben-kun. We were about to get some Ramen. Would you like to join us?"

"Sure, It will be my treat." He introduced himself with a smile

The scarred chunin waved his hands, "It wouldn't be right. I am Naruto's teacher." He looked away

"It's okay. I insist." Ben laughed heartily, " You probably don't eat as much as Naruto."

"Umino Iruka, Nice meeting you Ben-san."

Naruto clapped the young Tennyson on the back, "Come on Ben! Hurry up! I am starving."

The de-aged plumber only smiled at the knucklehead's exuberance , "Well, Okay I guess." The blond whooped happily and the trio went down the street for a while until they arrived at the small stand that proclaimed "Ichiraku ramen"

Naruto laughed and ducked through the flap, "Hey! Old man, Ayame-chan, I am back!"

The pretty girl working at the stand, most likely Ayame, turned around and grinned once she saw the blonde. 'Hi, Naruto-kun! Back from your mission?"

"Yep! And now Ben is going to treat us to Ramen." Naruto settled into his regular position as Ayame promptly handed over a bowl of his favorite Miso Ramen. Iruka ordered vegetable and Ben looked over menu inked out on the pine board behind Ayame.

"Ah, what'll it be for you?" Ayame asked kindly.

"Shio ramen, with lean chicken meatballs." Ben answered , _"Now she is a sight worth waking up to."_ He absent mindedly thought to himself

"Coming right up...uh?"

Before Ben could come up with the best way to introduce himself, Naruto chimed in, towards much of his annoyance "His name's Ben!"

"Nice to meet you Ben-kun!" Once the Ramen was served, three of them dug in with gusto, though none more than Naruto. Who seemed like inhaling rather than eating. Ben could only stare , having never seen someone outside of his Gourmand allies eat so damn fast.

Iruka laughed at the look on his face, "See what I mean?" He asked, The teacher looking fondly at Naruto.

"I guess your wallet cleans out every time you bring him here." Ben chuckled

"You have no idea." An old grizzled man spoke, coming out of the backstore, "Don't worry, anyone who treats Naruto gets a big ol' discount. I don't want people to starve on my watch.'

"Glad to hear that." Splitting a pair of chopsticks Ben started eating to heart's content.

...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxxxx...

Once the brown haired plumber was done with the Ramen , he quickly left to work off his meal, telling that if he got even a little bit fat, Kevin would never let him live it down. Iruka couldn't help but smile as he saw the pair, he knew that Ben was probably the only person in the whole village who didn't have any previous impression of Naruto. Despite the punishment inflicted on his wallet Ben didn't seem annoyed or irritated in the slightest, Iruka could certainly use someone like that around. That was something entirely new to the blonde and he could see Naruto was loving that, despite not even knowing that himself. Iruka quickly pointed him at one of the common training fields around Konoha, which was mostly used by genins and just like that Ben took his leave. Leaving the duo to wander on their own.

Iruka gave a large belch, sighing in relief as they started walking towards the Academy , "That was great Ramen. So now we are alone. Why are you upset?."

Naruto blinked, "Upset? Why would I be upset?"

Iruka's eyes rolled in annoyance, "Kid you have been alone your whole childhood until may be Shikamaru at the start of the academy. You are always upset. Of course you are very good at hiding it. But ever since you returned from your trip something has been getting you down. Spill the beans ."

Naruto shuffled, he really didn't like being read that easily by people around him. Mulling the problem over his head, he tried to come up with the best way to explain it but in the end he ended up blurting out everything, "Am I useless?"

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"It's just that..." the examples started pouring out one by one, "Against the demon brothers I did pretty much nothing, against Zabuza Ben could have easily handled things on his own, even after practising tree walking I got nearly taken out by a water clone. Haku-chan always thrashed me when I asked her to spar with me. It took me nearly three weeks to get the hang of water walking." Naruto inhaled, "It just doesn't seem like I am doing much as a shinobi. Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka looked at him for a long moment before finally responding, "One of things which makes shadow clone unique is when you form clones, the chakra is evenly split between you and the clones you create. When you fought Mizuki you reportedly created several hundred clones. I am not sure how much of that was your "tenant's" doing but if Lord Hokage was left with of his current chakra, he'd probably collapse. I would probably die."

"Oh," Naruto looked down at himself in both awe and confusion, "So where does that leave me?"

"Well let's think about it . Nothing is set in stone of course, your body and mind still need to fully mature. Right now though, you are not the most strongest of fighters, and even with water walking exercise, your chakra control isn't fine tuned enough for Genjutsu. BUT..." He raised his voice as Naruto started to look sad again, "You have sharp senses, are incredible durable for someone around your age, your reflexes are not bad and let's not even get started on your stamina. However due to lack of proper guidance you are not as good as you should have been with your Taijutsu. You have shown time to time that you can be pretty good in anything you are interested in. But to become the Hokage, you need to be good at everything."

Naruto let out a sigh, he roughly had an idea what Iruka was talking about, he could still recall nealy being taken out by those samurai thugs and Zabuza's water clone.

"How do I get better? I will do it, whatever it takes." He spoke out with a determined look on his face.

Iruka grinned wolfishly, "You really mean that? Are you willing to give your word on it?"

Naruto thrust his chest out and stabbed his thumb back at himself, "I never go back on my word. That's my nindo. Believe it!"

Iruka laughed and messed his hair, "You silly little fool. You are mine now. I am going to make you do every kata you missed on during last three years, every test you failed and every assignment you didn't turn in." Chuckling somewhat menacingly the young instructor led Naruto towards the academy.

Naruto momentarily froze for a moment.

 _"Bloody hell! Even Iruka sensei can be mental sometimes."_

 _...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx...xxxxxxx..._

Following Iruka's directions Ben arrived at a specious wide training field. The young Tennyson maneuvered around the stumps while looking at the target range and the obstacle course. Thinking quietly to himself he then became engrossed in the ropes wrapped tightly around one of the larger hitting posts and stood before it curiously. Upon taking a good look at seeing how it was positioned, he then shrugged, after a minute or so for stretching his legs and warming up his arms in a manner of speaking, he began to run through some katas, exaggerating his moves in order to better improve his form.

Punching and kicking the target repeatedly, his blows rattled the stump from top to bottom, filling the area with the sounds of loud thumps and thuds. Hearing the wood crack and seeing it split before his very eyes, he pulled his fist away and looked down at it. He could clearly see an imprint of a small fist embedded in the very front of the target.

Pondering over what he felt about the contact for a moment, the young Tennyson let out a sigh and shook his head in disappointment.

It just wasn't the same. He really preferred when his targets tried to fight back and prove to be at least somewhat of a challenge before he beat them in submission.

"Are you a shinobi, young man?" A voice called out to him, causing him to turn around. Needless to say he was quite confused at he saw. A grizzled old man was standing on a nearby wooden bench. Half of his face covered by bandages, including his right eye and his right arm. He held a wooden walking stick in his hands but seeing his posture, it seemed like he was quite in shape for someone around his age. Just like the old man Sarutobi.

"I dunno. I am quite new to all this ninja stuff." Ben raised an eyebrow as something caught his eyes or more like nose.

It was hard to explain but his hyper evolved human form did have better sense of smell then most ordinary people out there. Nothing as extreme as vulpimancer or loboan but it was noticeable. And his guts told him there were people nearby. A feeling he was all too familiar with due to being the victim of the so called predator Khyber's constant assaults for many years.

He slightly tapped the dial on his chest, murmuring **_Ghostfreak_** under his breath. A silhouette of grey-white specter like being with a gaseous appearance and claw like hands appeared behind him for a brief moment as despite keeping his regular human appearance his body transformed into something else.

"It seems you are quite aware boy, Perhaps Kakashi has already taught you a couple of things about being a ninja." The man spoke again

The Ultimatrix bearer narrowed down his eyes, it seemed this man had been a ninja at some point in his life, a very good one if he might add. Even though the man hadn't done anything threatening yet, something about him just screamed dangerous. Similar to what he felt around Zabuza, just 20 or 30 time more intense.

"I guess news travels fast in this village." Ben replied in a nonchalant manner. Usually Ben wasn't the one to run away from a challenge. But his lack of knowledge about this dimension really put him on edge. And after seeing what shinobis can do firsthand he wanted to avoid a fight if possible at least until he gathered enough intel about the inhabitants of this world in particular.

"Tell me, what is a shinobi's greatest weapon?" The old man leaned on his walking cane, slightly cocking his head as he looked at him with curiosity.

"I don't know if I am qualified to answer that question. But from what I gathered so far from my battles I can safely say it has to be deception and trickery. " Ben replied casually, his intangibility already activated.

The man smiled at him for a brief moment, apparently satisfied by his answer.

"You have a strong foundation." The one eyed veteran tapped the can in his right hand once, "I see you can become legendary someday though you still have a long way to go. The fact it took you some time to realize I was watching you means there is still room for improvement. But I see that you already have made some arrangements to defend yourself ."

Ben slightly narrowed down his eyes. It seemed that this creepy old man was much better at reading people's movements than he was. Perhaps he was some seasoned elite shinobi sent by Hiruzen to sort of analyze him. He really didn't want to make a bad impression on the ninja president of Konoha since this place was going to be his residence for unforeseeable future.

Besides for the most part of his hero business he had been the act first think later kind of person and let Kevin or Gwen deal with planning and stuff. Unfortunately, in this dimension he was mostly left to his own devices and considering that the evil he Hamura warned him about belonged to this world, he had to get better at playing ninja as well.

"How can I become a better...shinobi then?" Ben asked out of curiosity.

Instead of answering, the one eyed veteran delved deeper into his robes causing Ben to tense up for a moment but he didn't need to as the old man drew from within his robes, a wooden board with a lot of boxes, and two bowl of pebbles, one filled with white and other filled with black.

That was weird, How come things like that kept popping out of nowhere all of a sudden?

"Game of generals." Ben spoke up, quickly recognizing the japanese variant of chess without much difficulty.

The one eyed veteran gave him a look of approval , motioning to the empty seat in front of him, "Do you know how to play?"

"A little bit." Ben nodded as he sat opposite the old man , feeling a bit uncomfortable due to the lack of wind which definitely had been there before.

And just like that a very interesting game between the Ultimatrix bearer and Konoha's infamous warhawk began.


	12. Chapter 12

Despite being defeated for the fifth time in the row, Ben didn't feel annoyed in the slightest as he was nowhere near experienced at playing shogi like the one eyed veteran, who now introduced himself as Danzo Shimura, was. Though each time the board was resetted Danzo had to make twice the effort to beat him as the same set of tricks and moves didn't work on him as he was no stranger to mental exercises. Which clearly left him quite impressed. It was quickly became quite obvious to Ben that Danzo never did anything without reason. That man was quite hard to predict and his moves very well planned and he was even better at executing them. He sacrificed his own pawns, rooks, knights and even the queen if it gave him a favourable position to trap the Ultimatrix bearer.

That almost seemed...clinical...surgical. This is what he imagined a highly proficient strategist or spymaster to look and act, needless to say that thought itself was a little bit disturbing.

The one eyed veteran of three shinobi world wars talked a little bit about how the village was founded in general, It quickly became quite clear to him that he was a huge admirer of Tobirama Senju, the second Hokage and Ben could sense that he knew the third quite closely but there seemed to be some sort of bad blood between them as he didn't speak much highly of him like Kakashi did for an instance. He had an inkling that the bandaged creep clearly wanted something from him. He certainly had no idea what it was yet, however he was willing to indulge the cyclops if it meant he could help him learn more about this world's techniques.

After all if Hamura believed Ben stood no chance against this supposed darkness in his current state, he needed all the help he could get.

"The third Hokage is a firm believer in the will of fire." Danzo continued with his line of explanation, "It is a faith which causes the Konoha ninjas to risk themselves in an effort to protect those weaker than them, whether they are the next generation or the people working with them on a mission."

"You...don't agree with it." Ben slightly narrowed down his eyes.

"What should it matter to you if your teammates perish on a mission? Does it affect your well being or performance? Shouldn't you be focusing on serving the greater goal?" Danzo asked him with a hint of curiosity in his overall emotionless facade.

"Real people aren't pieces, and you can't assign more value to some of them than to others. Not to me, not to you, not to anyone. Anyone who looks on the world as if it was a game of shogi deserves to lose." Ben responded in a firm tone

"It seems you are set in your ways." Danzo observed

"I am not so arrogant to believe my way of thinking is the only right one." Ben replied in a casual tone, "Experience is the hallmark of learning and I have merely concluded best suits for my life based on my past experiences. Besides what's the point of being a warrior if you get swayed by others that easily. "

Danzo stood up, a speculative look on his visible eyes, his expressions still remaining mostly unreadable, "Indeed, you should give your trust only when it makes the most sense to you."

Before he turned to leave, the old man pulled out several books out of a sealing scroll and handed them over to Ben.

"This should be enough to steer you in the right direction."

 _ **Ideal Shinobi's Rule and Maxim by Sasuke Sarutobi.-**_ It was pretty thin and the title was set in all caps.

 _ **Introduction to Fuinjutsu by Mito Uzumaki -Vol. 1 to 3-**_ All three of them were quite thick, though some of that might be from their bloody red hard cover but Ben could feel it was going to take him a while before he could finish any one of them

 _ **How to train properly: ANBU Edition by Tobirama Senju - Vol 1 and 2:**_ This one had a silhouette of the white haired man whose face he saw on Konoha's version of Mt Rushmore on it's sky blue covers alongside the title.

 _ **History of Konohagakure: Fifth Edition.**_

The history book seemed biggest out of all seven and while he wasn't a big fan of reading, it was essential for him to know how this village was formed and the trials it went through to get to where they were right now. And thankfully he had his Splixson alter ego **Ditto** was to rely on.

 _As long as I can convince my copies to read on my behest...which is easier said than done._

Ben looked at all the new books in front of him. They all really looked interesting but Fuinjutsu stuck out like a sore thumb, "Fuinjutsu?" He asked, "Why Fuinjutsu? Hatake-san always told me that the best path for me would be ninjutsu and taijutsu."

"Fuinjutsu, also known as the sealing arts can be used for many things such as summoning weapons or animals to fight, binding or trapping your enemies. Even most of the explosive seals use sealing arts as well. " Danzo explained as a matter of fact as he started packing his shogi board and chips.

"I get that." Ben blinked in confusion, "But even if I pick up a few things from these books, don't you have to be really precise while using complex stuff like that?"

"You are partially correct. Using sealing arts require extreme chakra control and focus." Danzo said with a knowing smirk, "However you are going to put efforts into become a true ninja, aren't you? Besides it's the most effective known technique to deal with a _Jinchuuriki_ just like the current Mizukage. So I thought you might be interested in getting a feel for how sealing arts work."

Ben sharply narrowed down his eyes, glancing at the set of books. Better to read them and learn what fuss was all that about.

"Thanks for your help, Shimura-san."

"Don't mention it. You are genin and you are mainly responsible for your own training. I am just an old man offering you some wise words from my own experiences as a ninja. Until next time, Ben Tennyson."

Danzo replied nonchalantly, as if he was merely discussing the weather and before Ben could process what his true intentions were, the one eyed shinobi veteran had vanished. He moved even faster than Kakashi and Haku and didn't even leave the cloud of smoke copy ninja did while displaying that technique.

Ben shook his head with a sigh, his mind whirring with after experiencing the day's events. A part of him wondered whether he made a mistake by joining Konoha but he quickly dispelled all those negative thoughts away from his mind. Right now, the only thing he could focus on was his growth as a fighter so he could become badass by this world's standards as well. While he was still worried about his future in hidden leaf at the end of the day this was basically another wednesday for him.

Putting all those books back in the scroll, he took out a backpack from the Ultimatrix's very own personal pocket dimension, he carefully put the scroll inside. He really didn't have any idea about it till his eighteenth birthday and he still didn't know how that feature really worked. Because as far as he knew the said alien device had the ability to survive the destruction of universe and even cause it, and aid him in defying death countless times, but it couldn't be bothered to carry more than ten thousand, and one hundred kilos.

 _Not that he ever needed to carry so much stuff with him anyways._

And just like that he went back to punching the training dummy, he had to finish his regular workout after all.

...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxxx...

Once he was done with the exercising he spent most of his day crisscrossing through various streets of Konoha, browsing through multiple shops and stores that lined the road. He was quite surprised to learn that there was indeed some symmetry to the sprawling village. Hokage's tower was at the center, facing Konoha's version of Mt Rushmore from opposite side. Surrounding that were the official functions of the city's government, like taxes, license bureau for the various shinobi licenses, the ANBU base, and other things. Up against the financial and official district was the business district. This was where the majority of the shops and stores were located.

Further out from those administrative buildings were the residential areas, which expanded throughout rest of the village all the way to the border walls. As he previously noticed while entering the village, at the border walls were three gates, each one creating an intermission in the defensive structure that, along with the cliff the Hokage monument sat on, setting up a half-moon protective formation around the village and its inhabitants. A road led from each gate directly to the Tower, allowing shinobi and guests in a hurry to access the center of government as quickly as possible. Surprisingly districts themselves weren't completely isolated from one another, especially with each one blending into the next, but there were enough signs to let you know when you were in which one by the majority of unique buildings. Ben was quite amused to witness such a well functioning town in an alternate dimension. As expected from a ninja village, wide training grounds were set up quite nicely, which were located both inside the walls, in cases like the meadow field and memorial stone, to huge grounds like the Forest of Death which were located a few miles beyond the walls.

Now it was about dusk and the young Tennyson was looking for a place to stay. Before parting ways, Ben had been given his fair share of the pay that he'd earned by helping out with Zabuza and helping out Zabuza. So he had enough to stay on his own for at least a couple of months. The grown young man in a teen's body knew that he would be able to stay at no charge to him, but first he had to find a place to stay _at_!. Just when he was starting to think about going to the Hokage tower to ask for directions, he caught a familiar scent (As he was now transformed into his hyper evolved vulpimancer alter ego **Ultimate Wildmutt)**

The familiar scent led him through one of the more rundown spots in the Residential District, all the way up to a lighted window, none other than the infamous copy nin emerged from the sliding glass door and set out a decrepit-looking plant. Ben figured it was better to impose on the masked ninja for some time until he found a place he could call his own , so he soon found the door that led to the apartment and knocked.

The door slid open and Ben found himself staring at a yawning Kakashi in the face, still reading the smut novel he always did, "Ah, Ben! what are you doing here?"

The Ultimatrix bearer scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry Hatake-san! I needed a place to stay for the night, and I couldn't find anything worthwhile. I picked up your scent from far away..."

The copy nin responded with an eye smile, "It's alright . I really live on my own." He looked over his shoulders, " I gotta warn you though, the place isn't that great."

"I can manage, besides I have seen worse in the past." Ben nodded with a smile filled with gratitude. Night was about to fall and while he was capable of doing so, he didn't want to rough it in a place he wasn't truly familiar with.

Kakashi stepped aside, welcoming his new student in, while the place was simple the jounin did live in a decent two bedroom apartment.

"So Ben, this place everything you hoped it'd be?" Kakashi asked out of curiosity as he took out a spare blanket and pillow.

Ben began, keeping the fact in mind that everyone though he was originally from the same place Haku was which was much more believable rather than his true origins, "This land is much more peaceful than my homeland, and it's people seem much more welcoming. "

Kakashi eye smiled mysteriously as he led him towards the guest room , "You should feel right at home, Konoha truly fits your ideals . Anyways make sure to sleep early and conserve your energy as much as possible. I will be training my team sharp at eight am in the morning at the training ground 14. And afterwards we will be running D ranks for the village."

"Right! I will be there!" Kakashi nodded then disappeared in a burst of shinobi smoke.

The young Tennyson couldn't help but feel a strong urge to facepalm upon seeing that.

 _Did he really need to do that in his own house?_

Considering the fact that he didn't have much else to do, he took out his backpack out of Ultimatrix's own inventory, unsealed all the books from both scrolls (Surprisingly Zabuza and Haku left him with some reading material as well).

 _Now let's look for what the term "Jinchuuriki" and "Demon Fox" truly means._

 _...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxx...xxxxxxxx..._

The next day Ben awoke a little past seven in the morning and by the time he woke up, Kakashi was already gone. After seeing bare cupboards in the kitchen it didn't really seem Kakashi ate or cooked anything there in the first place. So he decided to head into town to get some light breakfast for himself.

Which happened to be a complete meal including steamed rice, miso soup, a grilled fish, and bunch of side dishes consisting of green salad and dried seasoned seaweed. He could easily tell that the restaurant owner likely had a lot of shinobis as regular customers. None of the dishes were greasy, deep fried or rich and they seemed quite light in general. Adjusted to meet the appetite of those who tended to work hard physically.

Unfortunately, despite hours of reading ( shared between three duplicates respectfully, since using a single one more than that would have caused a riot, he hated studying but his duplicates hated doing that even more.) He really didn't figure out much about those words , at least not as much as he intended to.

Apparently as long as mankind could remember in this universe, savage demons had roamed these lands, hunting humans and laying waste to all around them. They are massive beasts, most easily recognized by their giant tails. They were called the Ichibi, the Natabi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, the Gobi, the Rokubi, the Nanabi, the Hachibi, and the Kyuubi, the one referred as nine tailed demon fox.

There were drawings accompanying the words as well, ranging from a raccoon looking creature made of sand to a giant bull-octopus thingy. To try and combat these powerful beasts and stop the destruction they cause, they were captured and sealed inside new born babies using a powerful technique that would kill the person using it. The fourth Hokage was one of those people who sacrificed their life to seal a Bijuu and protect the world from chaos. When the human has a demon sealed inside them they are known as Jinchuriki.

If the book was to be believed, these Jinchuurikis exhibited extraordinary powers due to the immense chakra reserves they possess, alongside several special abilities associated with the respective beast sealed inside of them.

He was quite surprised to find out that the first Jinchuuriki of Konoha happened to be none other than Mito Uzumaki, author of those books he had on sealing and wife of first Hokage. And apparently she passed away barely seventeen years ago, somewhere around her one hundreds.

Ben's face set into a frown once he carefully thought about it once again.

 _If my observations are correct, The fourth Hokage sealed the demon fox inside Naruto before his unfortunate demise. That certainly relates to the hatred others show him and all the name calling. But why did the Fox reappear out of nowhere and laid waste to the village? Why...would the fourth hokage chose Naruto of all people to seal the nine tails, what makes him so special?_

He let out an aggrevated breath for the umptieth time in the day. He would mull over the new information for a while yet until he discovered answer to these questions. He wasn't usually this grouchy in the morning but his mind was plagued with the thoughts of Naruto and the situation that was forced upon him.

On the bright side, reading the book written by Tobirama Senju: How to train properly, proved to be an enlightening experience. The guy was called a legendary ninja for a reason and he knew what he was talking about. It had sections dedicated to all branches of shinobi arts. Including fuinjutsu and medical ninjutsu. There were hardcore programs written inside which made him sweat just from reading it. All sorts of pictures were given to describe practical things in a better way and they moved every time he put a certain amount of chakra inside it, making him feel as if he was watching a video in high definition.

Since he had some time before he had to get to the training grounds, he decided to go shopping. He at least needed to buy basic equipments ninjas tended to use.

Looking around the shopping district for a while, he found a store which looked fairly nondescript. The rather large kunai and anvil symbol above the door indicating that it had to do something with the shinobi supplies.

Opening the door, he took a peek inside, the lighting inside the store was dim , but his eyes did see an assortment of weapons. Swords, staffs, scythe anything anyone could name was present there. The only time he saw so many different weapons in one place was Kevin's personal hideout. Sight of so many weapons would have certainly made his best friend/ ex-nemesis drool, only if he were to see that. His sight did zero in the swords displayed , even if those weren't the reason for his visit. His mind went back to the victorious moment he sealed Diagon in the all mighty blade Ascalon, he may never be able to use the sword the way old George did, but he couldn't deny the awesome factor of being a swordsman.

May be he did feel a tiny bit jealousy towards the likes of Zabuza.

"Ah, a new customer! What can I do for you?" A jovial voice asked from the door in the back.

"Excuse me, I was..." Ben begun but stopped the moment he took in the owner, the young girl that was roughly around his age, wore a chinese style pink tank top, dark green cargo pants and had her hair done up in two buns. Which made her kind of look like a panda, _or a mouse_

But that wasn't the issue. It was her face...

 _No...It c-can't be..._

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" She asked in a jest, and Ben couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief. This has to be some sort of twisted joke his destiny was playing on him.

This young girl...she just looked like...

 _Julie_ _Yamamoto..._

The one he could not save.


End file.
